The Acquaintances
by n i g h t s t a r d u s t
Summary: Hello there. We're seventeen, all five of us, and this is the story of our Acquaintance. To find love. That's what they said. But who knew we would pick who we did? Certainly not us. ContestPokeIkariFerriswheelS oulsilverShipping. Involves a train, a cruise ship, and dramatic eye glints.
1. Chapter 1

**The Acquaintances**

I said that I was working on a new story for Pokémon, so here it is! This is set in a kind of royal kingdom-ish setting, with the five female protagonists each being a princess of a kingdom/region. Actually, there are going to be five shippings in this, being Contestshipping, Ikarishipping, Pokeshipping, Ferriswheelshipping, and Soulsilvershipping. Using the english names, except for Touko/Hilda because Touko's prettier.

Disclaimer: I don't own any shippings or characters (except for OCs) in this fanfiction, I don't own Pokemon, I don't own…you know what? How about this: I don't own anything in this story except for the basic plot and OCs. There. All happy!

* * *

"Where are they?" May muttered to herself impatiently. "They should've been here by now."

May was sitting in a swing that hung from an old maple tree inside the palace gardens, looking around anxiously for the other princesses to arrive.

"They're almost never late…except for Lyra. Goody-good," May said, not without venom. It was hot outside, being the middle of July, and she was getting irritated. Brendan and Max were gone on a picnic somewhere in La Rousse city, Hoenn's capital, leaving her not only irritated, but bored as well. Her sundress, coloured light purple, the national colour of Hoenn, was thin and breezy, but with the relentless sun beating down, it was starting to feel heavy.

Feeling her silver tiara weigh her head down, May tugged it out of the brown curls that cascaded to her waist carelessly, and stared at the violet amethyst (again, the colour of Hoenn) embedded in the delicate curls of silver, noting silently how it reflected the light of the sun.

"I turned seventeen two weeks ago…Touko's birthday was yesterday…Misty's birthday was in June…Lyra's three days younger than I am…and Dawn's four days after Lyra….wow, I never noticed, but we're all born at such close dates…" May's mumblings were cut suddenly short when a voice drifted from behind her.

"Do you always mumble to yourself? I came to be Acquainted with a princess, not a lunatic, you know," the voice remarked snidely. May turned in the swing to find a tall young man with green hair and eyes looking at her with a smirk on his annoyingly handsome face.

"You're participating in the Acquaintance too, Drew?" May asked, mildly surprised.

"Well, of course I am," he replied, flicking his hair. "I'm eighteen now, and my parents want me to get married, naturally."

"You do know there's only going to be five of us, right? What's the chance that we'll like you?" May pointed out.

"Plenty. Besides, not many guys are going to be in it, either. Just me, that Brendan friend of yours, and a few other aristocrats from all of the regions," Drew countered, but when he saw how May flushed when Brendan's name was mentioned, an odd feeling swept over him, one he couldn't really explain.

"B-Brendan's participating?" May squeaked, her voice a few decibels higher than normal. "But he's engaged to Kris," she stuttered weakly. "How could he participate if he's—"

"Because he has some weird notion of protecting you from all the suitors," Drew explained matter-of-factly, noting how mad May got at the word _protecting_. "Well, later, May," he said. "See you at the council."

Just after Drew left, four ornately adorned carriages stopped outside the palace gates—one pulled by Rapidash, one pulled by Stantler, one pulled by Sawsbuck, and one pulled by Girafarig. May ran eagerly towards them, watching as four girls stepped daintily out of them, each one helped by a footman. A tall, slim girl dressed in blue leggings with an oversized, knee-length blue top and who had straight orange hair and bright teal eyes stepped out of the Rapidash carriage while completely ignoring the footman, a slightly shorter girl with glossy navy curls and dark blue eyes daintily tiptoed out of the Stantler carriage dressed in a dark red full-skirted dress, a slight, delicate girl with dark, soft brown hair and eyes took the hand of the footman and gilded smoothly down from the Girafarig carriage dressed in an ice-green dress that May could only describe as _floaty_, and a brunette with sharp brown eyes dressed in a yellow sundress similar to her own carefully padded out of the Sawsbuck carriage. (A.N. : Man, that was a long description…)

The four girls ran to May, excited voices overlapping as the five princesses all tried to talk at once. Finally, they stopped, each girl having said what they had to say, and at long last, there was a blissful moment of silence.

Max and Brendan chose that moment to come back from their picnic.

Immediately, Lyra, the slight delicate princess, yanked the four other girls in a beeline for the palace, not stopping until they were inside May's large bedroom (she knew the way from previous visits) with the door locked securely.

"What…the….hell….." Misty, the girl with the orange hair, panted disbelievingly from her seat on May's massive four-poster bed. "Ly, how…in the world…did you get to be…..so…strong?"

"Yeah," Dawn, the one in the dark red dress, remarked next to Misty, one hand on her heaving chest. "I thought you….were…supposed to be…the weak….one among us….and Mist…was supposed to be….strong…..right, Touko?" This last part was directed at Touko, the girl from the Sawsbuck carriage. Touko herself had gotten the breath knocked out of her, and was currently in a heap on the solid oak floor, only managing a nod and a weak wave of agreement.

"Sorry, guys," Lyra said sheepishly. She was cross-legged on a fluffy purple carpet. "It's just weird for me," she added. "Kris is my cousin, and she's engaged to Brendan…I just don't want to have to deal with questions about her, you know? I mean, Ecruteak may be the capital of Johto, and she may live there, but I honestly think she's spent more time outside of the palace than I have inside it."

"…..That's it?" May asked, surprised. She was sitting on a green beanbag chair, hugging a pillow to her chest. "Seriously? That's your reason for half killing us?" May sounded annoyed, and she was getting that glint in her blue eyes that signaled she was about to murder someone.

"Y-yeah…I'm really sorry! Please don't murder me!" Lyra wailed, terrified, as everybody else winced at the high-pitches of her terror.

"Man, you're lucky the walls are soundproofed," May said. "But I'm not about to kill you," she added, pointing to Lyra. "I'm going to kill whoever chose those dresses for us!"

As one, the princesses spun around to face the entrance to May's large walk-in closet/dressing room, and the new victim of both May's pointing finger and the glint in her eyes, now transformed into a full-on glare. The sheer ferocity reflected in her eyes was astounding.

"Wh-what is _that_?" Misty demanded, her face full of horror.

"Oh, dear, oh, no, oh, my—" Dawn couldn't even put a sentence together.

"Well…at least there isn't a sweetheart neckline this time," said Lyra, ever the optimist.

"You're kidding me. We're supposed to wear that?" Touko was aghast, mouth agape.

"Who the hell would have enough horrid taste to choose these, anyway?" May's eyes had still not lost that angry glint.

Through the open door to May's closet/dressing room, the girls could clearly see five sleeveless white ankle-length dresses with full skirts lying on top of a wooden bench, a white silk stocking on top of each dress, and five pairs of honest-to-gods _glass slippers _under the bench. On the hooks that lined the wall, there hung five glittery, half-transparent wraps pinned with a silver-and-gemstone brooch, five ribbons made of the same glittery material as the wraps, and to top it up, five ornate, fancy silver tiaras, each with a gemstone embedded in the silver hung precariously on the hooks. A note accompanied the dresses: _You are to wear these clothes to the Acquantaince Council._

The princesses had no doubt that the dress and accessories were beautiful and elegant. They just didn't see how the clothing would look beautiful and elegant on _them._

Walking reluctantly into the room, the girls stared miserably at the articles of clothing. They knew which wrap and tiara and ribbon and brooch they should wear, for the colours of the wrap and ribbon were blue and light purple and ice-green and yellow and dark red, the colours of Kanto, Hoenn, Johto, Unova, and Sinnoh respectively, and the gemstones embedded into the tiaras and brooches were blue sapphires for Kanto, purple amethysts for Hoenn, ice-green jade for Johto, yellow topaz for Unova, and dark red rubies for Sinnoh.

Misty was the Golden Princess of Kanto, her three elder sisters being the High Princess, the Aura Princess, and the China Princess of Kanto. (Together, they were the Sensational Princesses.)

May was Princess Royale of Hoenn, Max being the Prince Royal.

Lyra was the Sovereign Princess of Johto, with no siblings.

Touko was Princess Angelique of Unova, with no siblings.

Dawn was the Radiant Princess of Sinnoh, with no siblings.

It was obvious who everything was for.

* * *

Dawn, May, Misty, Lyra, and Touko were sitting in their silver thrones, high above the crowd at the Acquantaince Council. The council was just beginning, and the Governor General of Hoenn, Sir Giovanni (A.N.: Surprised? XD), was announcing the ceremonies in his usual iron-like voice.

"We have gathered here today to celebrate the beginning of the Acquantaince. As is tradition, when any princesses of all five regions reach the age of seventeen, the Acquantaince officially begins. Because the princesses differ in age and birth date, rules dictate that princesses can wait until up to nineteen years of age to begin the Acquantaince. However, if only one princess reaches the age of nineteen without any others, then the Acquantaince will be called off and canceled immediately, and the princess will begin courtship in a different way.

"The Acquantaince, as I'm sure you all know, is a special courtship method only used for princesses. The princesses will go on a thorough, all-expenses-provided tour throughout all five regions of the world in the luxury Magnet Train, as well as sail over the oceans and seas of the five regions in a cruise ship. During that time, the princesses can meet young aristocratic men from all five regions, from the ages of eighteen to twenty-one. By the time the tour and cruise end, the princesses should have fallen in love with the young men, and they will be formally engaged at the end of the Acquantaince. This is a foolproof method, and has never failed to provide amitial, long-lasting marriages.

"Now, I shall announce the young men who have chosen to participate in the Acquantaince. Engaged young men can also participate as protectors towards the princesses.

"From Sinnoh: Barry Misfeld, son of the Earl of Canalave City. Kenny Hayes, son of the Grand Duke of Sinnoh, engaged to Lady Zoey of Snowpoint City, protector towards the Radiant Princess, Dawn Berlitz of Sinnoh. And lastly, Paul Lawton, son of the Sinnoh Governor.

"From Hoenn: Drew Hayden, son of the Army General of Hoenn, Kerry Isteni, son of the Shipping Instructor of Hoenn, and Brendan Respile, son of the Earl of Petalburg City, engaged to Lady Kris of New Bark Town, protector towards the Princess Royale, May Maple of Hoenn.

"From Unova: Hugh Istral, son of the Sergeant of Unova, Touya Tamerlane, son of the High Duke of Eastern Unova, engaged to Lady Rosa of Nimbasa City, protector to the Princess Angelique, Touko Eldor of Unova, N Sage, son of the Earl of Mistralton City, and Cheren Pipes, son of the Navy Commander of Unova.

"From Kanto: Gary Oak, grandson to the Royal Pokemon Professor of Kanto, Ash Ketchum, son of Delia Ketchum, Duchess of Viridian City, and Forrest Stone, son of the Baron of Pewter City.

"From Johto: Silver Rocket, my very own son, Ethan Firbank, son of the Baron of Johto, and Adam Feud (OC), son of the Baroness of the Whirl Islands."

As Sir Giovanni said their names, each young man stepped up to a podium that raised them to the same level as the balcony in which the princesses were seated, and they sat in chairs on either side of the thrones—eight to the left, eight to the right.

"As the Governor General of Johto, I hereby proclaim the Acquaintaince to have officially begun!" Giovanni's voice echoed across the Council room, making the crowds go wild, and even the princesses momentarily forgot about the fact that they were wearing dresses they hated (it turns out they actually looked amazing in them, so long as they tied the sash around their waist and didn't breathe so the unyielding waist wouldn't pop), and they looked around at the young men seated around them, each wearing the exact same black suits.

Brendan smiled at May from the left side, and Drew smirked cockily from the right. Kerry Isteni, a guy May didn't know, looked uncomfortable.

Gary Oak, a guy with spiky brown hair and a confident smirk, met Misty's gaze unwaveringly. Forrest Stone, like Kerry, looked uncomfortable, and Ash Ketchum smiled shyly at her, and Misty decided right then and there that Ash was the nicest out of all the Kanto people.

Adam Feud grinned creepily at Lyra, and she shrank slightly back, timid. Ethan, the guy next to him, glared at Adam, then smiled reassuringly at Lyra. She knew Ethan a little, so his friendly smile gave her strength. Silver Rocket had been staring at her since he got on the platform, but it wasn't so much an oogling kind of stare as a curious one. When he saw her noticing, he gave a little polite nod towards her, and she inclined her head in return.

Dawn looked around. She knew Barry—a somewhat overconfident guy who was always fining people, but she wasn't interested. Kenny grinned at her, and she smiled back, but when her gaze turned to the guy with purple hair—Paul—he met her eyes, then looked away arrogantly. _Jerk. _

Touko glanced at Hugh. His hair was _really_ spiky, like a porcupine and a Qwilfish combined. He gave her a little, polite smile, and she turned her head to Touya. He made a face at her, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. Cheren Pipes, whom she vaguely knew from a few meetings, smiled cordially, and inclined his head, and Touko did the same in return. N Sage, however, looked the most casual, smiling at Touko comfortably.

The platform was lowered, and the princesses found maids waiting with luggage they'd packed beforehand.

"As is the custom, the princesses will have a few hours to mingle and associate with the young men, as well as say goodbye to family members, before retiring to the Magnet Train to spend the night. In the morning, the Magnet Train will leave for Littleroot Town and begin the Acquantaince." Upon saying this, Giovanni left with the rest of the crowd, leaving the princesses and the young men to follow the maids into the Magnet Train, where the prologue of the Acquantaince would begin.

* * *

So, as promised, here is the first chapter. Man, it took me so long to write...and I'm sorry about the random collection of last names, but it was kind of a last-minute thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Acquaintances**

So, the second chapter is up! ….Though the third probably won't be for a while…

I just realized that most of the "acquaintance/acquaintances" in the first chapter were spelled wrong in one way or another, so hopefully that problem is fixed in this chapter.

Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to Bubbles1011, who took the time to read and review the first chapter of this story, and whose review made me hurry like hell to get this chapter up, because I hate making people wait.

Disclaimer: I don't own any shippings, characters, the Pokemon franchise, yada yada yada.

* * *

"Wow! The Magnet Train is _huge_!" Touko exclaimed, brown eyes wide as she took in the comfortable, cushioned velvet seats, the large picture windows, and the lushly carpeted floors.

"Well, they don't call it a luxury train for nothing, you know," said a smooth, rich voice, one Touko didn't recognize, and she turned around to find N standing behind her and smiling casually. "It doesn't have a station in Unova, so most people in Unova have never been on it." Here, he extended a hand. "Nice to meet you, Princess Touko," he said, in that almost disturbingly silky voice.

"N-nice to meet you too, N." Touko shook his hand. It was warm, dwarfing her own, rather small hand. "You've been on the Magnet Train before?" Touko inquired, interested in spite of herself.

"Once," said N. "When I was three." He didn't elaborate further, so Touko nodded and was about to say something else when she suddenly realized that he was still holding her hand. A blush crept up her face, and hurriedly making some small excuse, left to find the other four princesses, who, being the amazing friends they were, had left her alone with N while they went off on their own. _Ditchers…_

Dawn was enjoying herself. She had already said goodbye to her mother, the widowed Sinnoh Queen Johanna, and now found herself engaged in a lively conversation with Barry inside a spacious banquet room, when Paul, that rude guy from earlier, bumped into Barry and continued on without even stopping. Naturally, this got Barry mad.

"Hey!" Barry shouted after Paul. "You can't just leave like that after bumping into someone? I'm so going to fine you!"

Paul ignored him and continued walking. Dawn twitched angrily, and was about to go lecture some manners into Paul's purple head when she was grabbed from behind by Touko.

"Dawn! I finally found you! See, I was talking to that N guy, when I suddenly noticed that you guys were all gone, so I had to find you, and then I got lost, and then…"

"Waitwaitwait. Hold up." Dawn said, a teasing smile creeping up her face. "You, were talking, to N," she repeated. "Well, it's no wonder," she remarked casually. "He's pretty handsome, and he must be nice too, so of course you would want to be Acquainted with him first…" Dawn trailed off as Touko, initially blushing wildly, starting giving Dawn a coy look, jerking her head discreetly to a point somewhere in the back of the room. Dawn turned to find Misty, orange hair combed properly for once in her life, talking to…Ash Ketchum, was it? And the strangest thing was, Misty, who had never, ever been shy near guys before, was blushing and nervously playing with a loose strand of her hair. Misty. Blushing.

Dawn and Touko exchanged knowing looks, before scurrying off to a hidden corner.

"We have to find May and Lyra and tell them!" Touko exclaimed. "…But I really don't want to interrupt May's love-time with Drew…" she added, sweatdropping slightly.

"You did not just say that," a familiar voice said from behind Touko and Dawn, and they whirled around to find May, her pretty blue eyes obscured by a steely I-will-kill-someone glint. Next to her, Drew was slowly backing away from May, obviously afraid of her temper. Dawn twitched like a frightened rabbit, before grabbing both May and Touko and rushing off towards a steward in the hallway outside the banquet room.

"Hi, can you tell me where our room is?" Dawn asked the steward, attempting to hide May and Touko behind her back. Not waiting for the steward to finish, she smiled brightly.

"Right, room 340, got it! Thanks!" Dawn zipped along the Magnet Train hallways, passing several surprised young men, before reaching the princesses' shared room and pulling May and Touko inside and locking the door behind her.

A scream echoed off the walls of their room.

"Get…off…me!" Lyra cried, trying without success to remove all three other princesses off of her.

A banging sounded at the door, and Touko jumped off Lyra and, yanking May and Dawn off Lyra, opened the door to find Silver and N staring at her oddly.

"Is everything okay?" N asked, light green eyes concerned. Again, Touko was knocked breathless by his beautiful voice.

"E-everything's fine!" Her voice squeaked embarrassingly, and N frowned, confused.

"Doesn't look like it…" Silver was peering past her into the room, and Touko turned to find Dawn sprawled on the large wooden chest at the foot of Lyra's bed and May standing anxiously beside the bed, where Lyra was lying.

"Ly, you okay?" May asked. "I'm so sorry, I totally didn't mean to fall on you!"

"Yeah, me neither. No need to worry, right?" Dawn chimed in, twisting to see Lyra, who was trying to sit up. A green quilt slipped off of her body as she raised herself up, hugging her knees, off the sheets, and Touko saw that Lyra had changed into a large white shirt and black leggings. With her hair tied back in a loose ponytail, she was pale but looked fine.

"No need to worry, Dawn. I'm fine, really—" Lyra suddenly doubled over, coughing and wheezing violently.

"Your inhaler! Where's your inhaler?" May shouted, panicky.

"Under….Dawn…" Lyra choked out, before collapsing on the bed, and Dawn leaped off the chest, lifting up the lid to find Lyra's inhaler and giving it to her. Lyra was about to bring it to her mouth, but had a sudden fit of coughing and let her arm fall limply to her side.

"Get away!" Silver's voice cut through the air as he made his way to Lyra's bed, helping her sit up, and Lyra put the inhaler to her mouth and took deep breaths, slowly calming down enough to sit up on her own.

"Thank God," Touko let out a breath. "I really thought that was it for you, Ly," she added.

"Gee, thanks for your unyielding faith in my ability to stay alive," Lyra remarked sarcastically. "Thanks, Silver," she said, looking up into his metallic eyes. He smiled down at her.

"No problem. That was an asthma attack, right?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I get sudden attacks like that. The trigger varies a bit from time to time, so I can have an attack when I'm not prepared, like what happened just now," Lyra answered.

"Well, I'm just glad you're all right," said Dawn. "Turns out there really was no need to worry!"

"You sure you don't need anything, Lyra?" An anxious voice sounded at the doorway, and five heads turned to find Misty standing there beside N.

"Misty! You shouldn't pop up like that! You might trigger Lyra's asthma again!" Touko said, surprised.

"Ah, I think it'll be alright. I let her in, so it's really me you should be mad at, not Princess Misty over here," N said, smiling rather disarmingly at Touko, who flushed red.

"Oh, no…I wasn't mad…" Touko stuttered haltingly, while May, Dawn, Misty, and Lyra looked at each other questioningly, and for the briefest instant, Silver could've sworn evil looks passed over their faces, but then they were all smiling brightly again, and he thought if maybe he was seeing things.

"Right…well, it's late. You guys should go to bed," said Silver. "We'll leave now."

And then they did leave, shutting the door behind them.

* * *

The princesses were all in bed, and from the bunk on top of May's, Misty leaned down and grinned at Touko.

"Did you guys see the look on Touko's face when N smiled at Touko?" Misty asked teasingly.

"I know! She was blushing so hard," May said, an evil grin on her face.

"Oh yeah? Well, how about you, Misty? Spending so much time cozying up to Ash Ketchum should've given you some fair experience in blushing. And May ditched me for Drew!" Touko retaliated.

"Why you little…where were you, then? Not following us, but instead talking with N. He must've been very engaging," said May. "And Lyra! The way Silver rushed to her during her asthma attack was totally like a prince saving a damsel in distress!"

"You better not have gotten some random idea of hooking up to Silver!" Lyra warned from her bed, the only one without a bunk on top.

"Why? Because he's yours?" May asked, cooing in the most infuriating way.

"No, because you've already got Drew to cuddle up to!" Dawn said from the bunk below Touko's.

"You're a fine one to talk, Dawn," said Touko. "When I found you, you looked perfectly fine chatting with Barry and Paul!"

"What the hell? Well…"

The friendly arguments and teasing eventually gave way to four girls giving a resigned _humph!_ and turning their backs on Misty, who won the argument…for the thirty-seventh time in a row. Grinning to herself, Misty took her iPod and earbuds from the small shelf above her head and plugged them in. A song began to play, and Misty listened along to it until she fell asleep.

_Today was a fairytale, you were the prince  
I used to be a damsel in distress  
You took me by the hand, and you picked me up at six  
Today was a fairytale, today was a fairytale_

_Today was a fairytale, I wore a dress_  
_You wore a dark gray t-shirt_  
_You told me I was pretty when I looked like a mess_  
_Today was a fairytale_

_Time slows down whenever you're around_  
_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
_It must have been the way you kissed me_  
_Fell in love when I saw you standing there_

_It must have been the way_  
_Today was a fairytale_  
_It must have been the way_  
_Today was a fairytale_

_Today was a fairytale_  
_You've got a smile that takes me to another planet_  
_Every move you make, everything you say is right_  
_Today was a fairytale_

_Today was a fairytale_  
_All that I can say is now it's getting so much clearer_  
_Nothing made sense until the time I saw your face_

_(From: .net)  
Today was a fairytale_

_Time slows down whenever you're around_  
_Yeah yeah_

_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
_It must have been the way you kissed me_  
_Fell in love when I saw you standing there_

_It must have been the way_  
_Today was a fairytale_  
_It must have been the way_  
_Today was a fairytale_

_Time slows down whenever you're around_  
_I can feel my heart, it's beating in my chest_  
_Did you feel it?_  
_I can't put this down_

_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
_It must have been the way you kissed me_  
_Fell in love when I saw you standing there_  
_It must have been the way_

_But can you feel this magic in the air?_  
_It must have been the way you kissed me_  
_Fell in love when I saw you standing there_

_It must have been the way_  
_Today was a fairytale_  
_It must have been the way_  
_Today was a fairytale_  
_Today was a fairytale_

* * *

So, the second chapter is up! Sorry it's so short…I had to put to song in, so sorry if you didn't like it….oh, and btw, the song is "Today Was A Fairytale" by Taylor Swift. Hope you liked this chapter! And...review, please!


	3. Chapter 3

**The Acquaintances**

So, this is the third chapter of the Acquaintances, where the princesses finally arrive in Littleroot Town!

And…now to do some research on Littleroot Town so I can plan what they're going to do there…..

Disclaimer: I don't own, don't own, don't own…..You know what I mean.

* * *

"Wake up, you guys! Wake—come on! Wake up! WakeupwakeupwakeUP!"

"Ow…..ow….my back…geez, Mist, how in the world do you make a pillow hurt?"

Dawn was flat on her back on her bunk, once-crisp white sheets now in a heap on her ankles, groaning as Misty viciously pounded her back with a pillow while screaming for Dawn to wake up.

"Ok, ok, I'm awake. God, woman! It's only…what time is it?" Dawn sat up, heaving Misty off her.

"It's nine in the morning, Dawn! Everyone else is already up! We're going to be in Littleroot Town in a hour and a half, so hurry, and get your lazy butt off the sheets!" Misty was still quite aggravated.

"It's ok, Dawn, we all got the pillow treatment too…" This was Touko, walking out of their massive en suite bathroom wrapped up in a lush towel, brown hair, slightly scratchy on her wet skin, dripping water onto the floor. "Hurry up and shower a little, while nobody's using the shower. May, can you help me pick clothes?" The last part was directed at May, who was blow-drying her damp hair dressed in a collarless white blouse with elbow-length sleeves that puffed out a little at the end, navy capris, and white ballet flats.

"'Kay, I'll be there in a sec, Touko," May responded, tying her now-dry hair in a long plait tied with a navy ribbon. She reached onto the marble bathroom counter and grabbed a silver circlet, which she placed onto her head. "Ugh, do we have to wear these circlets?" May asked, walking over to Touko, who was kneeling in front of her trunk, which she hadn't bothered to unpack.

"I don't like them either, but it's either these or tiaras, May," Touko said.

May sighed. "I guess…here, how about this?" She knelt down beside Touko, pulling out a sleeveless blue knee-length dress. "You could wear these under the dress, too," she remarked, seeing a pair of ankle-length black leggings and black ankle boots.

"Thanks, May, you're the best!" Touko took the clothes and walked over to her bunk to change, while Dawn started to shower.

"Misty, could you help me with these buttons?" Lyra asked by her bed, where she was wearing a white tank top, denim shorts and red high-tops. She had just put on a red shawl that had three cloth-covered buttons down the back. Misty was in the process of combing her unruly orange hair into a spiky side ponytail dressed in a v-necked white dress with a pleated skirt and knee-length gladiator sandals.

"Sure! Here—" Misty tied her hair up, before crossing to Lyra's bed and buttoning her shawl in one swift move.

In the bathroom, Dawn, dressed in a short skirt, a pink T-shirt, knee-length white socks, and chunky pink sneakers finished blow-drying/combing her navy hair, and putting her circlet on her head, turned into the room.

"I'm ready now! Let's go eat something—I'm kind of hungry!" Dawn said, grinning cheerfully. There was a chorus of happy voices in their room.

"All right!" May cried. "I passed a really cute breakfast place last night—let's go there!"

The girls were all seated. May had ordered scrambled eggs on toast and a glass of orange juice. Misty had cream of wheat with a berry yogurt parfait. Dawn was digging into a pile of pancakes with maple syrup and butter. Beside her, Lyra sipped from a cup of tea, pondering her apple turnover, and Touko sprinkled some salt onto her omelettes.

"We'll be getting off the ship in about an hour," Misty said thoughtfully, plunging a spoon into her parfait.

"Yep! I can't wait to get to Professor Birch's lab and show him how much Blaziken has grown—he hasn't seen it since it was a Torchic!" May added enthusiastically.

"I hear that the Professor will let us pick out some Hoenn Pokémon from his lab too!" Dawn said, spreading more maple syrup on her pancakes.

"So you aren't just a clothing-obsessed airhead," an unfamiliar voice said from behind Dawn, making the girls start and turn to see Paul smirking in a very….smirkish way. "I was beginning to think that the rumours were true. Well, at least you care about seeing new pokemon."

"Excuse me, but I'll have you know that your opinion of me means nothing to me," Dawn replied.

Paul's smirk grew even smirkier. "We'll see about that," he said, before turning and walking away.

"Urgh! What is with that guy?" Dawn growled, angrily stabbing at her pancakes.

"If you ask me, I think he likes you," May remarked.

"Well, Dawn definitely likes him," Misty said coyly.

"What? As if I would ever like a…a…a…_jerkface_ like him!"

"Jerkface? Nice word choice, Dawn," Lyra said, innocently twirling a lock of her dark brown hair.

"Gah! You too, Lyra? Why is everyone against me?" Dawn huffed, frustrated. She glared at her pancakes.

"Because life is horrible. And because the universe is conspiring against you," Touko replied calmly, before biting into an omelette.

"I would agree with Miss Touko," a suave voice remarked. Touko froze, before turning to see N.

"True," Drew said from beside N. Now it was May's turn to be flustered.

"D-Drew?" she asked, trying desperately to hide the faint blush that was creeping into her face.

"The one and only," Drew said. "Can we sit here? There are no more seats."

The princesses all looked at each other, before shrugging, five sets of shoulders moving up and down in perfect sync. Taking that as a yes, Drew sat beside May, and N sat beside Touko. As N sat, his hand accidentally brushed against Touko's hand, making her shiver. Being the extremely sensitive person that he is, N noticed.

"Are you cold?" he asked, a concerned (and incredibly cute) frown instantly manifesting on his face. N put a hand on Touko's shoulder, staring at her. "You can have my jacket if you want," he offered to the now wildly blushing Touko.

"N-no, really, it's fine, really…" Touko trailed off as N's hand traced down her arm lightly before taking her hand.

"Your fingers are cold," N said, still frowning.

"N, I'm _fine_," said Touko, gently extricating her hand and glaring at the four other princesses, who were all grinning conspiratorially behind their hands.

"_What?_" Touko demanded.

"Oh, it's nothing," said May, stifling a giggle. "Say, Drew, N, want to come to Professor Birch's lab with us?"

"Alright, said Drew. "You fine with it, N?" Drew asked. N nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on Touko.

"That settles it, then! We're going to Littleroot together!" May exclaimed, exchanging the briefest of triumphant glances with the other girls.

Suddenly, a voice buzzed through the small restaurant.

"Attention, this is your captain reporting. We'll be in Littleroot Town in about 20 minutes, so please get ready if you haven't already done so, and be at the exit in 15 minutes. Thank you."

"15 minutes, huh?" Dawn said thoughtfully, looking down at the remains of the once-proud stack of pancakes. "How about we plan where we're going in Littleroot?"

"Agreed," said Lyra. "I hear there is a dragon trainer there. Let's go there after the Professor's lab—I've been meaning to train my Dragonair a bit."

"My Flygon could use some training as well…" Drew said.

"And Kingdra would like it too, I guess," Misty added.

"Hmm…Swablu just evolved into an Altaria, so a little training couldn't hurt," May remarked. (A.N. Yes, I know, May has no Swablu/Altaria, but remember how she didn't catch that Swablu in the anime? I've always fantasized about it coming back to her…so here goes!)

"Zweilous might find it interesting. It might evolve into Hydreigon too," Touko remarked.

"I just caught a Bagon," said Dawn (A.N. I know….). "A bit of training couldn't hurt."

"It's settled, then," said N. "First the lab, then the dragon trainer."

"Great!" said Misty happily. "I can't wait!"

* * *

"See, Professor? Torchic's gotten so much stronger!" May said, hugging her Blaziken fiercely.

"I see," said Professor Birch, inspecting Blaziken closely. "It's very healthy as well," he commented after a while. "Would you five girls like Hoenn pokemon?" The Professor asked.

After much debate, May had a new Zigzagoon, Lyra had a Poochyena, Misty had a Surskit (after vigorously refusing the Wurmple first handed to her), Touko was hugging a Seedot, and Dawn got a Wingull.

N and Drew got nothing.

After saying goodbye-and-thank-you to the Professor, the group of seven headed to the south of town, where the dragon trainer lived. As they got closer, faint battle sounds could be heard. It was only as they neared the house that they could make out the sounds.

"Go, Gabite! Use Dragon Claw!" A voice cried out, one that Misty could clearly identify as Ash's voice.

"Block it with Dragon Pulse, Fraxure!" Another voice responded.

"It's Silver!" Lyra said. "He's battling Ash!"

The seven people ran into the small courtyard behind the house, and found Gabite's claws locked with Fraxure's Dragon Pulse.

"Use your chance, Fraxure!" Silver commanded. "Dragon Rage, now!" Fraxure's eyes glowed blue as it built up its power, before finally unleashing a powerful Dragon Rage at Gabite, who stumbled back, staggering with the hit.

"Gabite, use Dig!" Ash said, and Gabite dropped into the ground.

"Find it, Fraxure! Use Slash!" Silver responded, and Fraxure immediately began slashing the ground, causing deep gouges to appear in the hard earth before it's claws caught on something.

"Good, now use Dragon Pulse!" Fraxure launched a Dragon Pulse into the ground and jumped clear as an explosion rocked the battlefield. A huge cloud of dust rose up from where Fraxure was.

May and Dawn tried to shield Lyra, but it didn't work.

Lyra doubled over, and, wheezing, grabbed her inhaler from inside her denim bag and took a few deep breaths. By this time, Silver and Ash had already hurried over along with Fraxure and a much-battered Gabite.

"Lyra! Are you ok?" Silver asked. "I didn't know you were watching, I'm so sorry, I triggered your asthma."

"S'ok…I'm fine now, anyway, so no need to worry…"

"_Hey!_ That's my line!" Dawn exclaimed, hands on her slim hips.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry," Lyra said, before noticing Misty standing in the middle of the battlefield. "Misty? Miiiiisssssstyyyy!" Lyra called out.

Misty walked back to Lyra. "Hey, Ash, do you know where the dragon trainer is? This is s'posed to be his house, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but he isn't home right now, but he left a note telling all visitors to feel free about using his facilities, so Silver and I went and had a go." Ash explained. "There's a mechanical thingy that referees for you."

Just then, the metal robot-referee came over. In a metallic voice, it stated:

"Trainers Ash and Silver have forfeited. The match is a draw. Would anyone else like a go?"

"Hmm…actually, I want to try with Altaria," May said.

"And I'd like to give it a shot with Flygon," Drew said.

"In that case, please enter your names," the robot said, before extending a keyboard, where May and Drew punched in their names. "This match will be one-on-one, Altaria against Flygon."

May and Drew took their places, and the battle started.

"Go! Flygon!" Drew said, and a large, light green pokemon with large green wings emerged.

"All right then! Altaria, take the stage!" May shouted, and a beautiful blue pokemon with fluffy white wings burst out of the pokeball.

"Flygon, use Supersonic!" Drew commanded.

Flygon began to release a series of high-pitched, confusing rings towards Altaria.

"Altaria, counter with Sing!" May said, and Altaria started singing sweetly in a beautiful soprano. The shimmering golden musical notes collided with Flygon's Supersonic, and burst into beautiful sparks.

"Flygon, Hyper Beam!" Drew said.

"Altaria, climb to dodge it, and then use Sing!"

Altaria swept up above the Hyper Beam, before using Sing again, but this time the notes wrapped around Flygon in circles, swirling. Drew gritted his teeth.

"Flygon, knock the notes away with Dragonbreath!" Flygon released a burst of blue flames that charred away most of the musical notes, then turned away to tackle the rest.

"_Altaria, Sky Attack." _

Altaria began diving at Flygon's turned body. In Drew's haste to get rid of Sing, he had forgotten that Altaria was right above Flygon.

Altaria collided with Flygon, a crest of silver and blue power shimmering all over its body as it drove Flygon into the ground.

"Grrr…Flygon, Dragonbreath, now!" Drew yelled. Flygon turned its head and launched flames at Altaria.

"Silly, silly," May said. "Altaria, Dragon Pulse!" Altaria sent a powerful ball of energy into the flames of Dragonbreath, and the Dragonbreath was knocked apart.

"Quick, Flygon, use Hyper Beam!"

"Altaria, spin and use Sing." Altaria began spinning, wrapping its wings around itself while singing. The swirling golden music notes blew the Hyper Beam away.

"Now, Sky Attack!" May commanded.

Altaria unleashed Sky Attack once more, this time with Sing forming a swirling mass of energy around it.

"Flygon, get off the ground and try to dodge!" Drew said.

"Not so fast. Launch Sing!" May told Altaria.

Altaria let out a piercing cry, and all the notes surrounded Flygon, preventing escape. Flygon's head darted here and there, trying to find an opening.

"_Do it!"_ May's voice rang, and Altaria dived, slamming into Flygon, who screamed in pain and tumbled into the air, where it seemed to hang for just one silent moment before falling like an arrow straight into the ground.

Altaria flew in front of May, the burst music notes of Sing and the glow of Sky Attack creating a blue, silver, and gold halo of light around it.

Flygon had fainted.

"Flygon is unable to battle. Altaria is the winner, so the victory goes to May!" The robotic voice of the referee cut through the silent battlefield.

Drew returned Flygon, pausing to murmur a few quiet words to it, before coming to May and Altaria.

"Congratulations, May," he said, holding out his hand. "Good battle."

May blinked a few times, before smiling. "Good battle, Drew," she said, and they shook hands.

The sound of clapping startled everybody, and the nine people all turned to find an elderly man standing at the entrance to the courtyard.

"That was an excellent battle," he said.

"Ah! You must be the dragon trainer that lives here, right?" Dawn asked.

"Exactly," he said. "You want to train your dragon pokemon here, correct?" he asked, addressing the rest of the group.

"Ye-yes, sir," they all answered.

"Well, then, what are you waiting for? My name, by the way, is Vance (OC)" he said.

* * *

"Ah, man," Misty said. "I'm exhausted."

"I know what you mean," Ash agreed. "I could eat a Tauros!"

They were back on the Magnet Train eating dinner, having spent the rest of the day training with Vance.

"But it's a good kind of tired, I guess," May said.

Drew scoffed. "That's only because you beat me,"

May flushed. "I beat you fair and square, Drew!" she retorted.

"Ah, lovers' fight. Wish I could have one of those sometime," said Touko dreamily.

May's pretty blue eyes had that glint in them again. "You were saying, Touko?" she asked innocently, batting her long eyelashes.

"Uh…well…uh…thissaladisreallygood!" Touko exclaimed, before digging in a little to voraciously.

"Isn't it?" N asked. He had ordered the same salad.

"Aw, thanks for trying. You're sweet, N, you know that?" Touko said.

"No, really, this is really good!" N said.

The table burst into laughter.

N sat there, bemused. But when Touko, laughing her head off, grabbed his hand under the table and squeezed, he smiled too.

And soon they were all laughing together.

* * *

So, the third chapter is up! It's kind of poorly written, but at least it's significantly longer than the first two!

Fourth chapter should be up….uh…dunno when. It'll be up sometime (like next month).


	4. Chapter 4

**The Acquaintances**

New chapter! Man, it's going to be a long time before I update again…like at least 10 days… .

Anyways, I realized I left this out, so here's a list of the five girls Pokémon:

May: Glaceon, Blaziken, Wartortle, Altaria, Beautifly, Skitty, Munchlax.

Misty: Staryu, Starmie, Goldeen, Kingdra, Psyduck, Gyarados, Togepi.

Dawn: Piplup, Quilava, Mamoswine, Ambipom, Togekiss, Buneary, Pachirisu, Bagon.

Lyra: Dragonair, Meganium, Lapras, Ninetales, Kirlia, Scyther, Spinda.

Touko: Unfezant, Zweilous, Petilil, Liepard, Samurott, Mienshao.

So, I have this really weird, twisted theory that there are contestshipping hints in BW2. I'm probably thinking too much into this, but…

Start theoryThe BW2 female protagonist's Japanese name is Mei (which rhymes with May), and her English name is Rosa (Rose? Get it?). And the her rival, that Hugh person…well….his name rhymes with theory

Yeah…crazy person…that's me…..

Oh well. Being crazy and proud of it is an asset in my eyes. Hope you like this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or the shippings, or the characters. Think that's it.

* * *

"Ah, I'm stuffed!" Misty plopped down on her bunk, letting loose an enormous sigh. Nestled in her arms, Togepi chortled, then hiccupped, then chortled again.

"I know what you mean, Mist," May agreed, cuddling Skitty. "But did you see how much Ash ate? Three bowls of ramen noodles. Three extra large bowls!" May turned on their large TV. Coincidentally, it was playing a show filming an Eat-a-thon.

"…And he wasn't even full…." Lyra remarked, sitting on her bed. Next to her, Spinda tottered, dizzy, and Lyra grabbed it before it fell off the bed.

Touko snickered. "You know, maybe Misty could ask him out to dinner. Food's the way to a man's heart, after all," she said casually, stroking Petilil and leaning on the closed door to the hallway.

"_What?_" Misty demanded. "No. I am never doing that. Not in a million years."

"Oh, chill, Mist," Dawn replied, placing Piplup on the shelf in her bunk and grabbing her white nightdress from on top of her bed. "The whole point of this is to find love, after all. Well…anyway…dibs on the shower!" She yelled, before rushing to the bathroom to avoid the barrage of angry voices and pillows thrown at her.

A good fifteen minutes later, Dawn emerged from the bathroom in her nightdress, wet hair wrapped in a towel. The TV was now playing a random game show, and the other four girls were sitting on pillows in front of it, sipping chilled soda from the minifridge while oohing and aahing every few seconds as Petilil, Togepi, Skitty, and Spinda sat calmly in their laps. When the saw Dawn come out, stepping over a few stray pillows, Touko handed Piplup over to her, Misty gave her a can of Coke, and May gestured for her to sit down on a spare pillow.

"My turn next!" Lyra cried cheerfully. Tossing her drink in the trash can, she went to the bathroom, carefully putting Spinda on her bed.

Soon, all the girls had showered and hit the lights for bed, reflecting that all in all, it had been a pretty good day and that the next night, they would have a field day teasing the other girls about the guys, and, in some cases, dreamily thinking about you-know-who.

"Urrgh…." May cracked open a heavy eyelid, staring at the shafts of light rippling through the windows and lighting the inside of her eyelids red. Stretching her sleep-leaden body, May slowly sat up, opening both eyes fully. Skitty, woken up by May's movement, jumped out of her arms and onto the floor.

Looking around at the other girls, May saw that they were beginning to stir and, reaching back to her little bunk shelf for her phone, turned her phone on and checked the time.

"10:18, huh? Well, better get to the bathroom before they all wake up fully…" May mumbled to herself. Putting her phone down, May walked to the bathroom and began to brush her teeth.

Back in the bedroom, Dawn got up. Her nightdress had bunched up around her slim thighs, leaving most of her long legs bare. Misty was bent over, picking up Togepi, who was hopping dangerously on the ladder down from Misty's bunk. Lyra's Spinda was tottering around as usual, though with Piplup in tow this time, while Lyra herself was smoothing down her wild bedhead. May was, of course, in the bathroom, and Touko had one hand firmly on Petilil and was starting to step down from her bunk.

Suddenly there was an enormous crash outside their bedroom, loud enough to even pass through the soundproofed walls of the girls' bedroom.

Then the door opened, and someone was thrown inside, mauvish-purplish hair flashing before Dawn's eyes before he fell on the floor with another jarring crash. Dawn knew him. It was that jerk, Paul. _What's he doing here?_ A new voice interrupted Dawn's thoughts.

"Take that back now! How dare you say something like that!?" Frozen on the top of the ladder, Touko gasped. She knew that voice—smooth, rich, silky, but now it came tinted with anger. _N!_ And there he was, standing in the now-open doorway, looking furious at Paul.

Dawn swung her legs over the side of her bunk, glaring, and May appeared in the doorway, holding a comb and…uh oh….with an unmistakable murderous glint in her eyes. Misty sat up on her bunk, and Touko knew she was about to whip out one of her infamous lectures. Lyra blinked at the scene, mouth agape. Spinda ran to her, and she mechanically picked it up and stroked it reassuringly.

A moment of absolute silence ensued.

Then Petilil, apparently frightened, wriggled out of Touko's grip. Panicky, Touko reached for it—and just as she caught Petilil, her grip on the ladder slipped and Touko fell off the ladder. Squeezing her eyes shut, Touko waited for impact.

A pair of strong hands grabbed her just before she reached the ground and, opening her eyes, Touko realized that N had caught her. His green eyes gazed down at her, concerned.

"You okay?" N asked, the angry tint now gone from his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Touko answered somewhat shakily, getting down and putting Petilil down as well.

N smiled a little. "Good," he answered somewhat wearily. Turning over to Paul, who had gotten up, his features darkened ever so slightly.

"Apologize to Dawn now." N said, his voice steely cold.

Paul dusted himself off. "I don't take orders from you," he replied.

"You should still apologize to her," N didn't sound happy.

"I was telling the truth," said Paul. "Is there anything wrong with that?"

N's voice hardened even more. "What you said was not the truth."

"Whoa…hold up." Dawn said, rubbing her temple. "Look, I'm sure Paul did something pretty bad, but could you two guys wait until we're finished…um…dressing and stuff and then we'll sort all this out?"

"No need," said Paul, turning to face Dawn. "I'll apologize now, if it'll save you some trouble. I'm sorry." He said, before starting to leave the room.

"Wait!" Dawn said. Paul stopped in the doorway. Dawn was standing up, hands on her hips. "You owe Barry an apology, too, Paul," Dawn stated. "You crashed into him and then just ran off!"

Paul sighed, before turning. "Fine. I'll say sorry to your boyfriend," he said. Dawn flushed indignantly, and Paul couldn't help hiding a smirk.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Dawn yelled.

"Alright then. Whatever you say," Paul said flippantly, before leaving the room.

Everybody stood in their places for a second, before Touko turned to N.

"What exactly was Paul saying about Dawn?" Touko asked N, who sighed and scratched his head.

"You don't want to know," N replied. "Have a good day," he added, before leaving the room as well.

The five girls stood there awkwardly, sweatdropping, before getting on with their lives as usual. Because that's what you do when a random incident has crashed through the window (or in this case, the door). You act like it never happened.

* * *

"What should we do today? We're not getting off until tomorrow—in Petalburg City, actually," said Misty.

"Hmm…oh! I know! Let's go swimming!" Lyra said, clapping her hands together.

"Really? There's a pool here?" Touko asked, excited.

"Mmmhmm! I swam in it before. It's really nice!" Lyra said, eyes shining.

"Well that settles it! We're going swimming!" May said cheerfully.

The girls left their bedroom, where they had been sitting. Except for Touko, that is.

"Um…are you guys forgetting something?" Touko asked. "None of us brought our swimsuits!"

The other four girls stopping in their tracks. _Oh yeah…_

"Well, there's only one thing to do!" May cried. "Let's go shopping!"

* * *

They were at one of the many boutiques on the train, rummaging through bikinis and one-pieces alike.

"Oooh, this one's cute!" May said, holding up a two-piece white swimsuit. The top had a sailor collar and ended just above the bellybutton, with a short white skirt over white shorts. "There are even shoes to go with it!" She added, grabbing a pair of navy-and-white flip-flops.

Beside May, Dawn grabbed a yellow bikini with clear beads hanging on the strings connecting the front and back of the top piece and the same beads on the string holding the bottom half together.

Lyra, humming, chose a light pink one-piece covered in silver designs and patterns and stepped into a change room to try it on.

Misty, who had never been picky with clothes, took the first swimsuit she could find, which happened to be an adorable dark blue one-piece covered in a breezy dress that ended just below her hips.

Touko, after some indesicion, picked a dark red two-piece. The top ended just below the ribs and was covered in red layered ruffles, with a matching ruffled skirt over red shorts.

After checking out, the girls went back to their room and changed, before walking to the pool. May was the first to dive in, executing a beautiful swan dive before bursting out of the water.

"You guys, you've got to jump in! It feels amazing!" May yelled. The other girls just stood there snickering. May cocked her head, confused. "What? Come on, get in!" she said.

Then Drew, who had snuck up soundlessly behind her, grabbed her by the waist, hands closing over the strip of bare skin in between the pieces, and pulled her backwards.

May screamed as Drew let go with a massive push, sending her sprawling into the water. The snickers of the watching girls turned to full-on laughter.

"Hey!" May exclaimed, whirling around to face them. The girls just laughed harder—until May grabbed their ankles and yanked them into the pool.

Dawn, sputtering, saw Drew coming up behind May again. An evil idea flew into her mind.

"Hey, May, turn around," Dawn said.

"Hmmm?" May turned, and found herself face-to-face with Drew, their noses not quite touching, and her hands on his chest.

_And…cue wildly blushing May._

Drew, initially shocked, smirked, before grabbing May's wrists—and pushed her backwards into the girls.

A glorious water fight ensued, and when they climbed out of the pool, Drew was soaked and tired, the five girls having ganged up on him together.

"Hey, May?" he called. May turned, a triumphant smile still planted on her face.

"What is it, Drew?" she asked.

Drew flicked his sodden hair. "Just wanted to let you know that I'll be getting revenge for this. Five against one isn't fair."

May grinned. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. See you later, Drew—"

Drew grabbed May's shoulders, leaning in close.

"D-Drew?" May squeaked, blushing.

Drew smirked. Leaning down, he whispered in May's ear.

"Don't look now, May."

Then he released May and walked away, leaving her to blink after him.

"That was odd," May said.

"Nope! Not odd at all, May." Dawn said, coming up behind May.

May sighed. _And…cue shameless teasing._

* * *

Yay! I has brilliant plan for Drew and May! Yay!

Anyways….yeah.

Forgot what I was going to say.

LOL.


	5. Chapter 5

**The Acquaintances**

So, hi, new chapter, yada yada yada. I have the guys' Pokémon list ready! …Because boys and girls are equally important….not. I had to pick and choose from Ash, Paul's, and Silver's Pokémon, because they have waay too many to list.

Drew: Flygon, Masquerain, Roserade, Absol, Butterfree.

Paul: Electivire, Torterra, Drapion, Honchkrow, Ursaring, Weavile, Aggron.

Ash: Pikachu, Charizard, Snorlax, Gabite, Torkoal, Noctowl, Heracross.

Silver: Skarmory, Fraxure, Sneasel, Crobat, Gengar, Alakazam, Magneton.

N: Carracosta, Zoroark, Klinklang, Vanilluxe, Archeops, Leavanny.

So there you have it! I have no idea why I bothered to do that…

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, don't own the fandoms, don't own the characters (except for OCs)….

* * *

May was cracking _tired. _First all the weird stuff with Drew by the pool…and then the shameless teasing her so-called _friends_ inflicted on her…and then the shameless teasing she, Touko, and Dawn had inflicted on Misty and Lyra after dinner concerning:

How much Silver was sweating when Lyra sat down beside him during dinner, looking gorgeous in a Grecian-style white dress, and

Ash, being the dense, naïve person that he is, commenting on how great Misty's hair looked (and you know fools don't lie!).

But now, with Dawn's Bagon jumping off of the top bunks, trying to fly, and with Touko's Petilil scattering leaves all over the room (in an attempt to do Leaf Storm _indoors_), with Misty and Lyra having a pillow fight caused by who was teased more, and with Skitty chasing its tail—then slipping on a broken pillow and landing in a pile of feathers—with Togepi cooing happily as it chased Spinda who was chasing a stray feather which was floating towards the bathroom which had _very _slippery floors caused by a mixture of leaves and feathers—with all of that going on, May was content to momentarily forget her exhaustion and focus on the happy chaos inside the room from the security of her bunk.

Five minutes later, May fell asleep.

"YOU'RE ON THE PHONE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND, SHE'S UPSET,

"SHE'S GOING OFF ABOUT SOMETHING THAT YOU SAID,

"CAUSE SHE DOESN'T GET YOUR HUMOR LIKE I DO!"

"Urggh….." Misty groaned, sitting upright and pushing Dawn's arm off her. "Dawn, did you have to blast music in my ear?"

Dawn pouted adorably. "It's not as bad as being woken up by a pillow pounding! _Revenge_!"

"But still…" Misty trailed off as she scanned the room. May was rummaging through feathers, trying to find her silver circlet. Lyra was wrenching a comb through her brown hair, Dawn, turning off the music, adjusted her dark blue dress.

Touko was nowhere to be seen.

"H-hey, where's Touko?" Misty asked, alarmed.

May sniggered. "N whisked her away a few minutes ago," she said. "Remember how last night at dinner, she was saying how Petilil needed some space to practice its Leaf Storm? Well, N showed up and took her to the greenhouse so Petilil could practice. They'll meet us at the pool when it's time to get off in Petalburg."

"We're going to have _so_ much fun teasing her about this," Lyra said, braiding two tiny braids next to her face and leaving the rest straight. She set her circlet in her hair and shrugged into a grey cardigan and a polka-dotted, knee-length skirt over long grey leggings, throwing her nightdress onto her bed.

"Oooh, Lyra, you look so cute!" May exclaimed. "I bet Silver will sweat so much when he sees you!"

Lyra scoffed. "Don't hold your breath, May," she retorted. "Drew'll probably sweat just as much when he sees you."

"You know, Ly's right, May," Dawn agreed. "You look so cute in that hoodie!"

"Yep, it totally matches your eyes!" This was Misty, coming out of the bathroom in a green T-shirt over denim shorts, orange hair in its usual spiky ponytail.

May groaned. _Life isn't fair…_"Well, anyway, enough talking. I'm starving—let's go eat!"

The five girls were sitting in one of the many breakfast parlours on the Magnet Train, staring at the menu.

"Hmm…maybe I'll have a scone?" May tilted her head slightly, gaze wandering down to the list of drinks. "A Coke to go with it, maybe…"

"Nah, May, I don't quite think that'd be a good combination," Misty replied.

May sighed. "You're right, Mist. Hey, Lyra, what do you want?"

Lyra put a slender finger on her chin. "Dunno…you think just some oatmeal would be nice?"

Dawn shrugged. "Your choice, Lyra. Hey, how about an apple tart?"

"Sounds good, Dawn," May mumbled. "I'll have the scone. With some hot chocolate."

"Really, May?" A new voice asked. "Hot chocolate in the middle of summer?"

May turned and saw Brendan standing there, smiling.

"Hey, Brendan! I haven't seen you in a while!" May grinned.

"Yeah," Brendan said. "You getting off when we get to Petalburg City?" Brendan asked.

"Yep," May answered. "And for your information, chocolate is universal."

"Alright, May, whatever you say," Brendan said, before walking off.

"Man, that guy's starting to turn into a Drew," May muttered, irritated. "Waitress!"

* * *

May, Lyra, Dawn, Misty, Silver, Drew, and Ash were sitting at a little ice cream shop, licking their sundaes and listening to Touko ramble on and on about how nice N was to introduce Petilil to the greenhouse and how much fun Petilil had there.

"Yeah, yeah, we've heard it already. N is nice, blah blah blah. You still haven't ordered anything, Touko," Lyra reminded.

"Really?" Touko blinked in surprise. "O-oh…" she said, scratching her head somewhat sheepishly. "I'll just have the fudge caramel…"

The seven people sat there in comfortable silence for a while, before Dawn noticed a sign that said:

_Talent Concert, Petalburg Stadium. Teams Welcome!_

"Hey, look, guys," Dawn said, pointing to the sign.

"Huh? What is it, Dawn?" Touko asked.

"A talent show? Sounds cool," May said.

"I was thinking…since we don't really have anywhere else to go, maybe we could enter that concert. It's a competition, though, so we'd better team up together." Dawn explained.

"Great idea! We could sing something…" Misty said. "The concert's today, too. First prize gets a Sun Stone."

Touko gasped. "A Sun Stone! Oh, that'd be the perfect thing for Petilil to evolve into Lilligant!"

"Well, then, it's settled! We'll go to the concert next!" May cried. "…But first we have to pick a song…"

On a park bench, Silver and Ash looking curiously as the girls picked and chose from their favourite songs.

"Forever and Always?" Misty suggested.

"Nah, it's a breakup song." Dawn said. "We need something happy."

"Well…Love Story? Mine?" May asked.

"I like that, but I can't hit the notes in Love Story. And…I dunno, I just don't really like Mine, I guess," Touko said. (A.N. *Gasp* Touko doesn't like a Taylor Swift song! Whyyyyyy?)

"Well, we have to choose a song to sing…..so…aha! You guys want to sing this ones?" Lyra asked.

"Which? Oh, that's perfect! Ly! You genius!" May gushed, eyes shining.

"With that song, no way we're losing!" Misty added, grinning from ear to ear.

"Which song are you guys singing?" Ash asked, leaning over to see.

Dawn grinned. "Not telling you guys," she teased. "It's a surprise!"

They were at the Petalburg Stadium, backstage with the concert technicians. After informing them of their choice of song, the girls headed to a comfortable seat backstage, tweaking their makeup slightly.

May smiled. She, like the other girls, was dressed in a white, knee-length dress tied at the waist with a gold ribbon and cute gold ballet flats, with her hair teased into beautiful curls and her circlet resting on her head.

"I like their idea of having us tell them our song, so they can play the music. This way, we won't be singing without any accompaniment." May said.

"But all the other contestants are really good…what if we don't win?" Dawn said nervously.

Touko grinned. "Chill, Dawn, it's going to be okay," she replied.

After waiting for a bit, it was their turn to go on.

(A.N. Uh…so…lyrics are italicized.)

The curtain in front of the stage opened, and the princesses stood there, a microphone in each of their hands. The music began to play, and as it was the time to sing, May took a deep breath, raised the microphone to her lips, and sang in a pure, sweet voice:

_I said "Oh my, what a marvellous tune,"_

_It was the best night, never would forget how we moved, _

_Tbe whole place,_

_Was dressed to the nines, _

_And we were dancing, dancing, _

_Like we're made of Starlight,_

_Like we're made of Starlight…._

May stepped back, and Dawn took over. Holding her mic in one hand and leisurely twirling a strand of her navy hair in the other, Dawn leaned forward slightly and sang:

_I met Bobby on the boardwalk, _

_Summer of '45,_

_Picked me up, late one night out the window.  
We were seventeen and crazy, running wild, _

_Wild….  
Can't remember what song it was playing when we walked in,  
The night we snuck into a yacht club party,  
Pretending to be a duchess and a prince…._

Dawn twirled around, the four other girls stepped forward, and they all sang together:

_And I said, "Oh my, what a marvelous tune,"  
It was the best night, never would forget how we moved,  
The whole place, _

_Was dressed to the nines, _

_And we were dancing dancing,  
Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight,  
Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight…._

Misty took the lead now, and as she started to sing, the crowd began waving their hands in the air, a sign that they were enjoying the performance.

_He said, "Look at you worrying so much about things you can't change,  
You'll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way,"  
He was trying to skip rocks,_

_On the ocean,_

_Saying to me,  
"Don't you see the starlight, starlight?  
Don't you dream impossible things?"_

Again, the five princesses all sang together for the chorus:

_Like, "Oh my, what a marvelous tune,"  
It was the best night, never would forget how we moved,  
The whole place, _

_Was dressed to the nines, _

_And we were dancing dancing,  
Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight,  
Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight…._

The girls all twirled in a reel, skirts billowing around them. Then, Lyra padded around to the front. Smiling beautifully, Lyra sang:

_Ooh, ooh, he's talking crazy,  
Ooh, ooh, dancing with me!  
Ooh, ooh, we could get married,  
Have ten kids, and teach them how to dream…._

Each girl raised her left hand, and as guitar instrumentals began to play, they paced at the front of the stage. As the guitar music ended, they high fived together, before splitting up and singing together:

_"Oh my, what a marvelous tune,"  
It was the best night, never would forget how we moved,  
The whole place, _

_Was dressed to the nines, _

_And we were dancing dancing,  
Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight,  
Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight,_

_Like we're made of Starlight, Starlight…._

_Like we dream impossible dreams…._

_Like Starlight, Starlight,_

_Like we dream impossible dreams…._

Lyra, Misty, Dawn, and May tapered off, and Touko raised the microphone to her voice and sang in a beautiful, clear voice:

_Don't you see the Starlight, Starlight? _

_Don't you dream impossible things?_

The music ended, and the girls curtsied as one, smiling widely at the applause and cheers sent their way, before heading backstage.

* * *

"That was awesome…" Touko said, leaning back in her bunk. The girls were back on the Magnet Train, having won the talent contest and the Sun Stone. Touko had promptly used it on Petilil, causing it to evolve into a graceful Lilligant.

"Agreed," May said, tossing the dress she had worn to the contest aside in favour of her blue hoodie, T-shirt, and skinny jeans. Lyra, back in her gray cardigan and polka-dotted skirt, grinned evilly.

"Hey, May, Drew was looking for you backstage. Something about giving you roses…" Lyra smirked. "But you disappeared somehow, so he'll be giving them to you at dinner," she added.

"Hah! Ahahahahahahahaha….oh…hell…May…." Misty collapsed, wiping away tears of laughter. "You're in for it this time…"

"What about you, Mist?" Lyra challenged. "Ash went with Drew to buy roses as well, but you were with May."

Misty's smile abruptly froze on her pretty face. Sweatdropping, she groaned.

"Why meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?"

"I think you neglected to mention something, Lyra," Touko said. "Silver gave you roses too!"

Dawn chuckled. "Well, so did N, Ly," Dawn said. And then gasped in horror. "Hell…how come everybody got a present from a cute guy except for me?"

"I dunno, Dawn, because apparently, your voice is amazing. Or so Paul says, anyway," Lyra said, smirking even wider. "And don't worry, Paul will give you something at dinner too."

"…." Dawn bit her lip to control herself and not spit out some extremely-clean-and- sweet-words at her so-called _best friends_.

* * *

So, anyway, new chapter! This one was kind of a filler chapter, and not written so great, either…

Next one should be up soon!


	6. Chapter 6

**The Acquaintances**

This is a new chapter (obviously), and it's my second update today! Busy working bee, that's me…

Disclaimer: Whatever I wrote for the disclaimer in the last chapter.

* * *

"Take it."

Dawn blinked, momentarily shocked, as Paul's hand dropped into her line of vision, blocking her view of Barry, who sat across from her at the dinner table, holding a beautiful silver charm bracelet, before smiling happily and taking it.

"Thank you so much!" Dawn practically glowed, radiant, as she turned to face Paul. He tilted his head, sighing, and Dawn realized he was looking past her at Barry.

"I guess I can see why you're the 'Radiant Princess'," Paul remarked, before turning away.

Dawn slipped the bracelet on her small wrist. "It fits!" Dawn exclaimed, delighted, before turning to the other girls, only to see them laughing silently, mischievous looks in their eyes.

Dawn groaned inwardly—she hadn't realized just how much teasing leeway Paul giving her the bracelet would present itself to her friends. _Shoot._

* * *

"Attention, attention, this is your conductor reporting. I have been instructed by the captain to inform all passengers to please meet in the main floor in a hour to greet two very special guests," a speaker boomed down, waking the girls.

"Mmmfmph…." Misty stretched. "What did it say?"

"Uhh…something about meeting on the main floor in an hour…so I guess we'd better get up?" Touko answered, somewhat groggily.

"Alright…give me a minute…" Misty yawned, before heading over to the bathroom to shower, followed by May.

While Misty showered and May brushed her teeth, Lyra plucked out a few clothes from a massive pile of thrown fabric, which were all mini dresses, one blue, one brown, one yellow. Lyra stared at them for a few second, before discarding the brown and yellow ones and, slipping off her T-shirt, pulled on the blue dress, and then proceeding to pull off her long black leggings in favour for knee-length denim shorts and flip-flops, then exchanging places with May at the bathroom sink, while Misty, stepping out of the shower, tied her damp hair in a messy bun and Dawn quickly took Misty's place while Touko rummaged around, trying to locate a hair tie for her brown braid. Finally locating her hair tie, Touko pulled on a knee-length red halter dress tied at the waist with a braided rope and went to the currently unoccupied sink, where she splashed water on her face before giving up the spot to Misty, who was dressed in a white-and-blue striped T-shirt with a boat neckline and white legging. Dawn, rushing out of the shower, hastily pulled on a yellow camisole, a pleated black skirt, black leggings, and bright yellow sneakers and combed her hair, before pulling it back in a low ponytail.

Soon, they were all ready to go and eat breakfast.

The whole getting ready process took less than fifteen minutes.

* * *

After breakfast, all the participants of the Acquaintance were gathered on the main floor of the Magnet Train in the banquet room where Dawn had been talking to Barry on the first day of the Acquaintance. All the tables and chairs had been cleared out, leaving a massive space.

Then a bang sounded, and in the momentary confusion, a voice pierced the air.

"_Drewykins!_"

Drew groaned audibly. May and all the other girls giggled wildly, before calling out as one:

"Harley!"

A tall man dressed like a Cacturne appeared, grinning. Next to him, a beautiful woman with long red hair rolled her eyes.

The girls gasped.

"Solidad!"

Solidad smiled at the girls. "Nice to see you again, girls," she said.

Harley chimed in. "Yeah, yeah, don't forget me. Especially you, Drew-bear!"

Drew huffed. "For the last time! My name is _Drew_. Not Drew-bear, or Drewykins, or anything like that!" Drew said, annoyed, as he flicked his hair.

Harley pouted. "Fine. I'm sure your cute little girlfriend won't mind me calling her names. Right, May-Sweetie-Pie?" Harley asked, turning to May, who looked both awkward and amused.

"U-uh…..OK…." May said uncertainly.

"Great!" Harley exclaimed. "I bet—"

"That's quite enough now, Harley," Solidad said, pulling Harley away from May. "We have a job to do," Solidad scolded Harley.

Harley pouted _again_. "Fine," he grumbled.

"Well, anyway, as I'm sure all the girls in this room know, Harley and I are partners in the fashion industry—he takes care of the frills and glitter, while I take care of the more…practical stuff." Solidad said. "We've come to offer to do a free custom formal dress design for each princess."

Each girl screamed in glee, five pairs of eyes, some varying shades of blue, others different degrees of brown, shining almost creepily.

* * *

"Come right this way, please!" Solidad motioned for Touko to step into a small curtained-off space Harley had set up. "I'll need to measure you and ask you a few questions so we can begin making your dress," she explained.

While the other four girls waited outside for Touko to finish, watching Harley lay out different fabrics on a fold-out table.

"Ah, I see—small waist, rounded shoulders, a bit taller than average—alright, Touko, we're done measuring," said Solidad, jotting down the numbers in a notebook. "Now I'll ask you some questions," Solidad said, turning to Touko and jotting down Touko's answers.

Favourite Colour: Sky blue.

Favourite Colour Combination: Soft pink and gray.

Preferred Dress Length: Just below the knees.

Preferred Fabrics: Satin and linen.

Preferred Skirt: Pleated.

Heels/No Heels: No heels.

Neckline: Scoop.

* * *

Having jotted down all the answers, Solidad ripped the page out of the notebook and handed it to Harley, who then began sketching out a design. May was next, and the same process followed.

"Sloping shoulders, slightly curvy frame…"

Favourite Colour: Turquoise.

Favourite Colour Combination: Navy and silver.

Preferred Dress Length: Ankles.

Preferred Fabrics: Silk and cotton.

Preferred Skirt: Full.

Heels/No Heels: Heels.

Neckline: Off-the-shoulder.

* * *

Rips page out of notebook, gives to Harley. Now it's Misty's turn.

"Lithe, long legs…"

Favourite Colour: Yellow-green.

Favourite Colour Combination: Green and gold.

Preferred Dress Length: Whatever.

Preferred Fabrics: Something comfortable.

Preferred Skirt: Not full.

Heels/No Heels: Heels.

Neckline: V-neck.

* * *

Sends Misty out with page for Harley, calls in Dawn.

"Slim hips….small feet."

Favourite Colour: Violet.

Favourite Colour Combination: Yellow and blue.

Preferred Dress Length: Knee-length.

Preferred Fabrics: Gauze, chiffon.

Preferred Skirt: Full.

Heels/No Heels: No heels.

Neckline: Boat.

* * *

Calls for Harley, gives him paper, sends out Dawn, Lyra walks in.

"Absolutely tiny waist, petite…"

Favourite Colour: White.

Favourite Colour Combination: Light blue and white.

Preferred Dress Length: Floor, with a train.

Preferred fabrics: Velvet, lace.

Preferred Skirt: Ripply/Layered.

Heels/No Heels: No heels.

Neckline: Grecian.

* * *

Claps hands, walks out with Lyra, gives Harley paper, leaves girls to ooh and aah at Harley's designs.

* * *

The girls spent the entire day shopping. Solidad had brought in some clothes and had let them choose what they liked, promising that the custom dresses would be done by the next morning. Needless to say, it was a party day for all the girls. The boys…well….they got to carry the bags.

"Oh man, look at this!" May picked up a knee-length, sleeveless orange hoodie. "Isn't this cute?"

Brendan and Drew, who were carrying May's bags (Kerry Isteni had wiggled out of duty by allegedly going to the bathroom), looked over at the hoodie.

Brendan groaned and Drew sighed. _May has a twisted definition of cute…_

* * *

"Ta-da! So, what do you think?" Lyra asked, stepping out of the change room to face Ethan, Silver, and Adam in a form-fitting, knee-length white dress with a light blue puff jacket and knee-length, matching blue boots.

Ethan gaped like a fish, before closing his mouth with a snap. Silver was sweating _quite_ noticeably, while Adam almost dropped the bags he was carrying for Lyra.

* * *

"Teehee—you guys like this one?" Misty held a breezy green dress up to herself, standing in front of a floor-length mirror as she attempted to see herself from different angles.

Gary, in the background, gave a loud wolf whistle. Forrest Stone managed to stammer a few intelligible sentences, while Ash said loudly and enthusiastically:

"Yeah, I think it looks great on you!"

Causing Misty to beam and hug him, while Gary and Forrest looked on with jealousy.

* * *

"Which one should I get?" Dawn asked, holding up three shirts: one brown, with a scoop neckline, one red, with a belt circling below the bust, and a white halter top.

Barry and Kenny scratched their heads, looking uncomfortable and hedging, while Paul brushed past, before stopping and pointing to the white halter top.

"That one. It'll look good on you."

And then walking away, leaving Dawn to try on the white top, which did look good on her.

* * *

Touko bumped into N, Cheren, and Touya wearing an ankle-length coral dress with cloth-covered buttons down the back.

"Oh, hello," Touko said. "I'm sorry I bumped into you,"

"That's fine," Cheren said. "It's hard to see where you're going, anyway."

"Say, Touko, you look like there's a lot of bags on your hands. Want me to help you carry them?" N asked, oblivious to the wild head shaking of Cheren and Touya.

* * *

And such began the legacy of shopping.

* * *

Yay! Done chapter! Yay!

Will go sleep now because I'm tired…..


	7. Chapter 7

**The Acquaintances**

So, new chapter! Oh, yeah, and I'll be going on vacation to China for three weeks in March…so….I probably won't update until, like, April or something. Yeah, yeah, I know, just go ahead and shoot me….

Disclaimer: What? Pokémon? Shippings? Who owns all that stuff? Certainly not I.

* * *

After having breakfast the next morning, the girls were all sprawled in front of the TV, engrossed in a game of Clue. Dawn was Miss Scarlet, Misty Mrs. Peacock, May Professor Plum, Lyra claimed Mrs. White, and Touko was Reverend Green.

A knock sounded at the girls' door.

"Hello? Anybody home?" The girls recognized the voice of Solidad, and all scrambled up to get the door. May got there first, and opened the door to see Solidad standing with a smile on her face.

"Hey, Solidad! Come in, come in," May said. "We're playing Clue—you can join, if you want."

Solidad shook her head. "No, thanks, May, but I just came to tell you all that the dresses are ready. Harley's got them—he's in the library—if you want to take a look. We've got a special event planned for tonight, since you guys won't be getting off in Rustboro City until tomorrow."

The girls, abandoning their board game, all rushed to the library with a chorus of oohs and aahs.

* * *

"Dar-lings!" Harley exclaimed. "Your dresses are all ready! Step inside one of the change rooms and try them on!" Harley gushed, gesturing towards five makeshift change rooms set up in the library, each one labelled with a girl's name.

May went inside the leftmost one, followed by Misty, Dawn, Touko, and Lyra in that order. Sliding the heavy cloth cover back into the entrance, the girls turned around to see their dresses—and promptly screamed in delight.

The dresses were _amazing_.

Misty stepped out of her change room first dressed in a sleek, yellow-green mermaid gown made of a soft, lightweight voile with spaghetti straps and matching low heels. Gold roses were embroidered along the side of the skirt. Misty had let her hair down from its spiky side ponytail, and it now cascaded in orange waves down her back.

Harley clapped his hands. "Oh, Misty-dear, you look just _gorgeous_!. Come on over—here, put these on," Harley said, handing Misty a necklace made of tiny golden beads with a gold disc hanging at the end and a beautiful gold tiara. While Misty secured the necklace and placed the tiara on her head in favour of her usual silver circlet, Touko went out of her own change room dressed in a pretty blue dress. The top was sleeveless with a slight sweetheart neckline and covered in sparkling blue sequins. A darker blue ribbon circled around her ribs, and a knee-length, slightly pleated blue skirt extended from under the ribbon, and on her feet Touko wore sequined blue flats. Unlike Misty, Touko had left her hair in its low, loose bun, and as Misty admired her reflection in the floor-length mirror Harley had set up, Touko let her hair down, and after fluffing it slightly, she joined Misty at the mirror, where Harley handed her a black choker and a sequined tiara similar to Misty's.

Sliding open the curtain of cloth, May adjusted her turquoise dress. Unlike Misty's and Touko's dresses, the neckline of May's dress was straight across, revealing a little bit of her sloping shoulders, and from the neckline, a bit of sheer turquoise cloth wrapped around May's upper arms. The top of the dress was tight, and embroidered heavily with silver, before extending into a magnificent full skirt that just brushed the floor. The glittering silver embroidery wrapped around May's waist, before sweeping out diagonally onto her skirt. The heels that May wore were also a glittering silver, and they could be seen peeping out from under the hem of the skirt. Harley gave May a pair of turquoise silk gloves and a silver tiara, and she joined Misty and Touko, who were fussing over their tiaras.

Lyra was next, in a white dress with a Grecian neckline. The top was relatively form-fitting, emphasizing her tiny waist, before extending into a massive white full skirt made out of lushly layered, crushed velvet and tulle, with a small train made of lace and gauze that eventually tapered off into a point, and the whole thing was encrusted in tiny, misty blue pearls. Having swept her dark brown curls over one shoulder, Lyra looked absolutely stunning. Accepting a white tiara and a light blue, old-fashioned fan from Harley, Lyra slid into a pair of white ballet flats and started for the mirror.

Dawn was last, being the most clothing-oriented one out of all the girls. Her dress was violet, with purple ribbons strapped around the back, before connecting to the top of the dress. The dark purple skirt was ripply, ending at Dawn's knees in the front, but in the back, the skirt extended down to her ankles, stopping just above Dawn's dark purple heels. Tripping daintily out of the changing room, Dawn took her violet tiara and the violet bracelet from Harley, and headed in front of the mirror to slip them on.

As the girls chattered happily as they crowded in front of the mirror, Solidad stepped into the library, locking the door behind her.

"So, you like your dresses?" Solidad asked, and all the girls turned to Harley and Solidad, beaming.

"Thank you guys so much!" May said, positively glowing.

"Yeah, I love my dress!" Dawn chimed in, a big smile on her face.

Solidad laughed. "Well, in that case, I think you'll like what we have planned even more," she said, before leaning in conspiratorially towards the girls.

* * *

The ballroom of the Magnet Train was lit up, all the young men of the Acquaintance milling around.

"Attention!" Solidad called from her place in front of the doorway next to Harley. She was wearing a beautiful soft gray dress. "This is a masquerade ball. The five princesses are hidden away somewhere in this ballroom. They are all wearing masks and the dresses we made for them, and their hair is hidden behind wigs as well, making them virtually unrecognizable. If you spot a princess, you must ask her to dance, and then try to guess which princess it is. If you guess wrong, the princess will reject you. If you guess right, however, she will dance with you. Be warned that I have brought in some of my female friends in to help the princesses stay hidden, although only the princesses are wearing tiaras. As soon as the music starts, you may begin."

As soon as Solidad had finished, music started up—a waltz, and the young men began milling around.

* * *

Barry wandered, trying to spot a tiara somewhere in the crowd. Then, he saw the flash of a violet tiara, and zeroing in on the princess, who was skirting the walls of the ballroom wearing a violet mask. Blinking, he started to walk towards her, and as her form became clearer, he stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that. It was Dawn! Starting towards her, Barry began walking faster.

Paul turned around. He didn't care about four princesses—it was one princess he wanted to find. Dawn. But he couldn't see her anywhere. Suddenly, he saw Barry walking in a way that was somewhat more purposeful than the other young men. Following Barry with his eyes, Paul saw that he was going after a girl in a knee-length purple dress with a violet tiara embedded in her straight dark purple wig. Paul narrowed his eyes. There was only one princess Barry would go after.

Dawn.

Paul began starting towards her, making sure to walk faster than Barry.

Dawn slid along the shadows, trying to lose Barry. In the corner of her vision, she saw Paul coming over too. _What the hell…_

Walking even faster, Dawn glided through the shadows until she reached a corner and cursed. There was nowhere to go.

"What now?" Dawn asked herself quietly, closing her eyes.

"Well, you could always dance with me," a voice answered. Snapping open her eyes, Dawn saw Paul standing in front of her. Startling slightly, her blue eyes widening in shock.

Paul smirked. "Dawn, right?"

Dawn could only nod and take his hand as he swept her onto the dance floor.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash was frustrated. "Damn, where could they be?" Ash muttered. Then, the music tapered off into a piano solo. Ash gasped. _That's it!_ Flashing back to the first day of the Acquaintances, where he had that conversation with Misty. She played piano. She had said so. Straightening, Ash headed for the grand piano in the corner of the ballroom.

Misty played the grand piano, brow furrowed in concentration. Then, Gary walked up to her. Inwardly cursing, Misty continued with her solo, slim fingers dancing along the keys.

"Hey, Touko, wanna dance?" Misty heard Gary say, and her mental cursing turned to giggles as she shook her head. He had got it wrong. Then, another shadow joined Gary's.

"Misty, that you?" Ash. God. She shouldn't have told him that she played piano. But anyway…rules are rules.

Misty stepped off the piano bench and took Ash's outstretched hand, ignoring Gary's outraged splutters and instead focusing on the dance floor—and trying desperately to remember how to dance a waltz.

* * *

May, unlike Dawn, had a different strategy. She walked right into the crowd of guys, turquoise skirts brushing the floor, until an arm extended in front of her. A smirking Drew stepped into her line of vision.

"May. A pleasure. As always." Drew said, looking nonchalant. Sighing, May closed her eyes briefly, before allowing Drew to lead her into the dance steps, twirling her around. _God, it's hard to dance in heels…_right before May tripped, and Drew caught her, slipping an arm around her waist, and they somehow managed to turn that into a dance move, awkward as it was.

* * *

Touko's strategy was sticking close to Solidad, since she figured no one would be looking for Solidad anyway.

She was wrong. Cheren stepped up to Solidad, greeting her, and then turned to Touko. But before he could say anything, N stepped up behind her, sliding an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm afraid Princess Touko is taken," he said mildly, pulling Touko close. _How did he know it was me…?_

But whatever. It's not like Touko minded.

* * *

Lyra stopped by one of the little tea tables, pouring a cup of tea for herself. Trying to hide from boys was hard work. Suddenly, Adam was there, looking very satisfied with himself.

"Well, well. Misty, care to dance?"

Lyra brushed him off, turning away. He had gotten her name wrong, so she had every right to ignore him. Floating away haughtily, Lyra plucked her cup of tea and sipped it, indulging in the cool liquid sliding down her throat. Suddenly, two arms held her waist from behind, pulling her close. The move shocked her so much that Lyra let go of her cup of tea, but a hand left her waist to grab the cup. Turning her head around, Lyra saw Silver. He let go of her and handed her the tea.

"That Adam guy got your name wrong, but believe me when I say that I won't, _Lyra_." Silver's voice was quiet, but confident at the same time, and Lyra drained the tea in one mouthful, trying to moisten her suddenly dry throat. Silver took the cup from her and placed it on a nearby tea table, before taking Lyra's hand and leading her into dance position as new music started to play.

And as five couples whirled on the dance floor, Solidad and Harley nudged each other, and as the last song started to play, Solidad made an announcement.

"_Attention! At the end of this song, each couple must kiss." _

Noting the gasps that echoed around the ballroom.

* * *

Haha…kissing! I think I took a bit too long describing the dresses….but this chapter was fun to write, anyhow.

Until next time!

Star xx


	8. Chapter 8

**The Acquaintances**

I IS BACK! …And suffering from a time difference of 13 hours…..technically, I should be asleep right now. But, no, I'm just that dedicated to this story. XP.

You're welcome.

Disclaimer: No owning. You get the point.

* * *

_No! No no no no no no no nononononononononoNO!_

Touko's mind silently screamed at Solidad and Harley for putting her into this situation.

…

N's hands on her shoulder and clasped in hers suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

…

He was blushing. Was she blushing too? Oh. Deep. Of course she was—she was about to get kissed by a cute guy. The music's ending. Touko took off her mask, revealing sweet pink lip gloss and a light dusting of blue makeup.

…

O.o

…

The music ended. Shouldn't that mean somethin—

…

N was a really good kisser.

* * *

May was pretty sure her face was overheating right now. Along with her neck, and her ears. She gulped, nervous.

Drew smirked. "Nervous?" Drew asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come on, it's obvious you like me."

Oh, _snap._

He did not just say that.

May might be embarrassed to hell, but she could still maul somebody when she needed to.

Well, she'd show _him_.

She whipped off her mask, ferociously glinting blue eyes lined with smoky cat's-eye eyeliner.

And as the music ended, May kissed him full on the mouth, white-hot adrenaline coursing through her.

...

...

Oh, _snap_.

* * *

Wait. Wait. Back up a sec.

SOLIDAD! HARLEY! YOU—YOU—

Oh well. Whatcha gonna do?

But Misty had to admit, Ash was pretty cute.

Misty took off her mask reluctantly—she was pretty sure her face resembled something similar to a tomato.

The music ended, and for a brief, horribly awkward instant, neither of them moved.

Two seconds later, Misty had to admit that she would much rather Ash kiss her than Gary.

* * *

Lyra was stunned, almost stumbling over her next step.

When she got back with the music, Lyra saw Silver looking at her, his silver eyes amused, hinting at something Lyra couldn't quite read.

He twirled Lyra around, massive skirts billowing, and as she stopped, Silver took the chance to take off Lyra's mask, revealing wide brown eyes with long eyelashes dusted with a fringe of glittering mascara.

Lyra's mind wasn't functioning properly—all she could do was stare as Silver ran a thumb across one cheekbone, before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her in for the kiss.

Belatedly, Lyra realized that the music had ended. And that her arms were still around his neck.

* * *

Dawn giggled inwardly, bubbles and butterflies alike swirling around in her stomach, making her dizzy.

Supported by a sudden rush of adrenaline, Dawn dipped into a sleek, deep curtsy as the music reached its final bars, sliding off her mask and wig in the process, navy locks swinging as Paul swept her up into the kiss, their lips touching just as the final chord sounded.

The whole thing was just cliché enough to be real.

* * *

The girls had somehow gotten back to their room after the ball, flopping down in front of the unfinished Clue game.

May massaged her temples. "What—just—happened…?" May asked dizzily, blue eyes clouded.

Dawn giggled. "You kissed Drew in front of everybody, that's what," she replied.

"Well, you didn't look so reluctant to kiss Paul!" Misty retorted.

"Neither did you when you and Ash kissed, Mist," Touko pointed out.

"Yeah, what about you, Touko? From what I see, N's a pretty good kisser," Lyra said.

"I expect Silver is too," May mumbled, still working at her temples.

"Well, today was too crazy for us to think straight," Misty said. "Let's just sleep on it."

A flurry of makeup removal and piling—ballgowns—on—floors later, the girls were all tucked in, each replaying their first kiss until they fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, unlike most morning, the girls didn't really say much, each knowing full well that any attempt to start a conversation would only result in mind-numbing teasing.

Touko put on a red and white plaid button-up over a loose white T-shirt with the words 'Someone is reading my shirt' on it in big black letters and dark blue skinny jeans rolled up at the ankles, revealing bare feet in ballet flats. Leaving her hair in its usual curly mess, Touko stuck her silver circlet on her head and started searching for a cute necklace to match.

(A.N. I'm running out of outfit ideas, so these are all based on Taylor Swift outfits. My own special way of Swiftie-ism.)

May put on a lacy, long-sleeved white top over a grey camisole and tights decorated with patterns of flowers and vines. Rummaging through bags and clothing, May found a two-layered short black skirt and knee-length lace-up boots and put them on. Combing her brown hair, May put on her circlet and went in front of the bathroom mirror to apply her lip gloss.

Lyra shrugged into a comfortable, loose gray shirt, blue-gray skinny jeans, and gray boots. Putting her hair up in a messy bun, Lyra pulled on a red cashmere scarf and started searching for her circlet.

Dawn wore a mid-thigh-length spaghetti-strap purple dress and silver sandals. Putting on Paul's charm bracelet, Dawn blew-dry her damp hair, running a comb through it, before putting on her circlet and, replacing May at the mirror, Dawn started putting on silver earrings.

Misty combed her orange hair wearing a V-necked navy shirt and light blue denim short-shorts. Sitting on Lyra's bed, Misty put on her gladiator sandals, before grabbing the nearest hair tie and putting her hair up into its trademark ponytail.

"Let's go," Misty said. "I've got some fossils to revive at the Devon Corporation."

Nobody disagreed—they all had fossils they wanted to revive.

* * *

At breakfast, May sent word to the conductor that they wanted no boys around them for the day except for the protectors—Brendan, Touya, and Kenny.

In order to avoid any possible awkwardness.

* * *

At the Devon Corporation, Misty revived a Kabuto from a Dome Fossil, squealing all the while about how awesome it would be once she trained it to Kabutops. Lyra got an Aerodactyl from her Old Amber, brown eyes shining, as beside her, May's Root Fossil slowly turned into an adorable baby Lileep. Touko watched, eyes wide, as her Plume Fossil became an Archen, and Dawn's Armor Fossil became a Shieldon—which Dawn thought was cute. For some reason. (A.N. This is just the girls' opinion. I, personally, think Shieldon are adorable.)

Walking with Brendan, Touya, and Kenny as Steven Stone gave them a tour of the building, the girls felt comfortable and happy, without a care in the world. They were, after all, princesses.

This is how life should be.

* * *

I hate that ending. Hate it, hate it, hate it. But I'm practically dying of sleep deprivation now, so, yeah. Anyway, fun fact: when I was in China, my aunt bought me a marshmallow (I know….) hat without my permission. That night, I put my hair up in pigtails, put on an old yellow T-shirt and a pair of my cousin's hand-me-down denim overalls, stuck that hat on my head, and felt like a total Lyra.

Hehehehe….Good times, good times.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Acquaintances**

You know, I was just looking back on the last chapter, and I was like 'wow, I must've been really miserable to write such a horrible chapter…'

Anyway, jet lag is no longer torturing me, and because we have a 'snow' day today, I will make it up to you peoples…..by having a pokemon contest in this chapter!

Feel the love, feel the love…

* * *

Disclaimer: Did I put a disclaimer in the last chapter? Ugh, my brain is foggy. Standard disclaimer applies.

May collapsed on her bunk. "Well, that day went by quickly," she said, stretching out leisurely.

Misty hummed contentedly, plugged into her music. "Kabuto is _adorable_." Misty declared. "And it gets along so well with Togepi too," she added.

Touko nodded. "Archen is just the cutest thing…" she murmured drowsily.

Lyra watched Spinda totter around on Aerodactyl, who was flying in circles around the room. "It's a good thing Aerodactyl's still young, too. If it was older, it could probaby destroy this room with all the flying it's doing."

Dawn patted down her hair. "You got that right, Ly," she said. "Anyway, what are we going to do about dinner?"

Misty glanced over at Dawn, pulling out one of her earbuds. "What do you mean, Dawn?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "It's obvious. If we go out, we'll be mobbed by guys _and_ awkwardness. So I say we order room service."

Misty _hn_ed, nodding her agreement. "So what do you guys want to get?"

Lyra was already flipping through the options. "I vote for cheeseburgers," she called.

"Seconded." May was hunched over Lyra. "I need sustenance _now_."

"Let me see that," Dawn said, joining May. "Oh, look, you can get cherries diped in chocolate. I want that!"

Touko was already at the phone. "Yes, we'd like five cheeseburgers, with some of those chocolate-dipped cherries, please—oh, do you guys want any dessert?"

"Frozen yogurt," the four other girls chorused.

"Okay, so frozen yogurt with that. Thanks!" Touko hung up. "The food should be here soon," Touko said.

Misty went over to the cooler and pulled out five cans of Dr. Pepper. "We might as well drink these while we're waiting," she said, popping the tab on hers.

"Mmm," May sipped from her can, leaning back in her chair. "So, where to next, guys?"

"Oh!" Dawn said. "We're arriving in Dewford Town _tomorrow_? But it took us, like, two days just to get to Rustboro!"

"That's not too surprising," Lyra said. "Once we get to Johto and Kanto, we'll probably be going to a city a day. The Hoenn Magnet Train is an older model, I think—the ones in Johto and Kanto are super fast."

(A.N. I decided that because I was kinda afraid for a while that this would turn into one of those 400-chapter-long mammoth fics. So.)

Touko grinned. "There is no Magnet Train in Sinnoh and Unova. So we'll be on a cruise ship then. Ought to be fun."

Just then, there was a ring at the door.

"The food!" May cried, scrambling to the door.

Plopping back down on her bunk with her cheesburger, May glanced at the game of Clue, still spread out in front of the TV. "Hey, guys, what do you say we finish our game?"

"Oh yeah! I'll turn on the TV!" Dawn jumped up, popping a cherry in her mouth on the way.

* * *

"Hn….." Lyra mumbled, blinking. "Wh-what?"

The five girls were sprawled in front of the TV, still on, cheesburger wrappings and empty soda cans everywhere. Lyra got up, stretching.

"Oh…we must've fell asleep…." Lyra stared at the other four girls, before looking up at the clock on the wall. "Only eight twenty….but we arrive in Dewford at…at…OHMYGODWEHAVETOGETOFFBYEIGHTTHIRTY-FIVE!"

The other girls were bolt upright, instantly understanding the situation and rushing everywhere. No showers this morning—they were all too busy throwing on clothes and dealing with bedheads.

Lyra peeled off her clothes from Rustboro, scrambling into a sleeveless orange dress that reached to just above her knees, flats, and a long, loose white wrap, before combing her hair vigorously, circlet ready in one hand.

(A.N. Yeah…still Tswift inspired outfits.)

Dawn had just finished brushing her teeth. After splashing water haphazardly onto her face, Dawn grabbed a white T-shirt that read "NOT A LOT GOING ON AT THE MOMENT in capital black letters and dark blue, almost black denim short shorts. Slipping into a pair of black flip-flops, Dawn hurriedly ran a comb through her hair, before putting on her circlet. (A.N. Pretty sure you know where this is from….LOL. Only without the black fedora…)

Misty pulled on a turquoise dress with a scoop neckline and a pleated skirt, before tugging a comb through her hair and stuck her circlet on, not even bothering to put it up in its side ponytail. Replacing Dawn at the sink, Misty brushed her teeth as fast as she could, continuing the tradition of carelessly splashing water on her face.

Touko slid into a blue, short-sleeved knee-length polka-dot dress and yellow sandals. After going through the motions at the sink, Touko combed her wavy hair and hastily put on her circlet, before making some sort of attempt to apply her lip gloss.

May, finishing at the sink, put on a red and white striped T-shirt and black shorts, before wrestling her brown hair up into a high ponytail, circlet on her head. "C'mon, let's hurry up!" May exclaimed. "We can eat breakfast in Dewford."

The girls rushed out the Magnet Train just before the last doors closed.

Dawn doubled over, hands on her knees. "Whew. We made it…" she panted. "But we are _so _going to have to learn to get up earlier…"

"Anyway, I'm starving. We should find a place to eat," May suggested.

"Hmmm, you're right, May. How about that pancake place over there? Looks cute." Misty pointed. Across the street from the Magnet Train station, there was a tiny, adorable breakfast parlour.

"Hey, what are we waiting for? Let's go eat!" May cried, met with a chorus of agreement.

Inside the parlour, all the girls were mercilessly devouring their pancakes, when May noticed a sign on the wall.

"Look, you guys, there's a Pokemon contest here!" May said.

All the girls looked up instantly.

"Yeah, there is! I'd totally love to enter," Dawn chimed in.

"Me too! I've never been in a real Pokemon contest before," Lyra agreed.

"Say what you like, but I'm not planning on entering," May informed them. "This is a resort island, and I, for one, do not plan on doing work here."

"Me neither~I'm just going to kick back, and watch you guys compete," Misty said.

"I've been in way too many Pokemon Musicals for my own good, and I don't think a contest is all that different. So, I'm going to be a lazy butt and leave you two all on your own in the contest," Touko said.

"That's fine by me!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Me too." Lyra agreed. "You three can just relax and enjoy my victory!"

* * *

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Dewford Pokemon Contest! I'm your host, Vivian, and do we have a show for you!" Vivian's voice echoed across the contest stadium, making the crowds go wild. Seated in the front row were May, Misty, and Touko, with N, Ash, and Silver. Thankfully for the girls, all the guys decided to act as if nothing had happened—although Touko did notice that N sat a _teensy_ bit closer to her than usual.

"The talented coordinator who emerges victorious in today's contest will be awarded the coveted Dewford Ribbon! So, without further ado, let me introduce your judges! One of our favourite judges, Mr. Contesta! And next, the president of the Pokemon Fan Club, Mr. Sukizo! Finally, we've got Dewford Town's own Nurse Joy! Now, I'm sure you're all excited to see the Appeals Round, so let's—get—busy!"

"For our first contestant, we've got Drew, from LaRousse City!" Vivian announced Drew as the curtain slid open in front of the stage.

May gasped. "Drew's competing! No way!"

Drew's gaze swept across the cheering stadium, before settling on the thunderstruck May. Noting her wide blue eyes, Drew smirked. This was going to be fun.

"Go, Roserade!" Drew shouted, releasing his partner. The seal on the Pokeball popped to reveal lightning bolts dancing around Roserade, before bursting into beautiful golden sparks.

(A.N. I don't really know all that much about contests…so…yeah.)

"Roserade, use Petal Dance!" Drew commanded. Roselia began spinning, before releasing a burst of beautiful petals into the air.

"Now, Magical Leaf!" Drew said. Roselia then shot glowing, razor-sharp leaves out from its roses, which sliced the petals in half, creating a spinning rush of purple and pink.

"Finish it up by using Solarbeam!" Roselia gathered energy, before releasing a bundle of spinning golden light that spiraled into the middle of the leaves and petals, before bursting open in a golden supernova that vaporized all the leaves and petals, leaving shimmery golden fireworks dancing all around the stage.

The crowd cheered, while May blinked in surprise.

"He sure has improved a lot from our battle in Littleroot," she pondered. "Wonder where he gets all his training done…?"

Drew and Roselia bowed, before leaving the stage. They whirled through a myriad of appeals for a while, though none quite as nice as Drew's, before settling on Dawn.

Dawn, dressed in the same dark red dress she had worn when she went to LaRousse before the Acquaintance, smiled as she took in the crowds.

"Alright, Togekiss, spotlight!" Dawn called, sending out Togekiss. Her seal was one of hearts that burst around Togekiss like Drew's lightning bolts did around Roserade.

"Now, Togekiss, use Aura Sphere!" Dawn said, as Togekiss launched a blue ball of energy into the air.

"Sky Attack, Togekiss!" Togekiss burst off the ground, body surrounded by blue light, before meeting the Aura Sphere in midair, causing it to burst into a collection of comets similar to a blue Draco Meteor.

"Togekiss, use Air Slash!" Dawn cried, and Togekiss immediately began whipping out ferocious knives of wind that whistled as they cut through the comets, exploding in a starburst that surrounded Togekiss as it landed, bowing gracefully.

Misty, Touko, and May cheered at the top of their lungs, almost drowning out the rest of the crowd.

"Whoo! Go Dawn!" The girls screamed, clapping their hands as Ash, N, and Silver looked on oddly.

Next up, surprisingly, was Paul. He strode to the center of the stage, completely ignoring the crowd.

"Let's go. Drapion." Paul commanded, as Drapion emerged from its Pokeball…without a seal. Surprising, but Paul was Paul.

"Drapion, use Pin Missile," Paul said, and Drapion shot white spikes up, where they met and crackled into one large arrow that headed straight for the ground.

"Now, Toxic Spikes." Drapion began flooding poison into the ground, and when the large white arrow hit, the whole ground flashed purple, streaks of toxins that snaked up the arrow, turning it purple as well.

"Last move, Drapion. Use Cross Poison!" Drapion latched its claws together, releasing an X-shaped slash of venom that slammed into the arrow, blasting it into the ground. A purple and white explosion followed as a fissure was etched, narrow and deep, into the floor of the stage in the exact same shape as the arrow, the ground around it still glowing with poison.

Everything was absolutely silent for a while, before the crowds started cheering, and Paul, returning his Drapion, left the stage without even bowing.

But Paul was Paul.

After another whirlwind of random Appeals that now seemed boring and lackluster, the last entrant was announced—Lyra! She ran on stage grinning, also wearing the same ice-green dress she had in LaRousse City.

"Dazzle them, Ninetales!" A gorgeous Ninetales appeared, surrounded by—what else?—a fire seal.

"Sweetie, use Inferno!" Lyra said, as Ninetales called up an immensely powerful rush of white-hot fire.

"Follow it up with Captivate!" Ninetales leaped up above the flames, the heat shimmers giving it a unique beauty. Arching its neck, Ninetales showed off its lush fur and tails. Needless to say, everybody in the audience was completely smitten.

"Use Extrasensory!" Ninetales landed among the flames, a white energy building around it before extending into the flames, flattening them and creating lines of fire and light.

"Now let's really show them! Overheat, full power!" A blast of pure energy radiated around the stadium, destroying everything. In the end, all that was left was Ninetales, the heat shimmers complete with the leftover energy from Overheat creating a sparkling halo around it.

Cheers erupted among the audience, with May, Misty, and Touko doing some weird victory dance and cheering at the top of their lungs.

The audience waited for a few minutes as the judges decided who would move on to the second round.

"Now, the four wonderful trainers who will move on to the second round are….Drew, Lyra, Dawn, and Paul!" Vivian announced.

Now, May, Misty and Touko were doing some sort of hula dance.

* * *

Sorry, but I just don't have it in me today to complete the contest…

Anyway, who do you think will win? Because I already have it all figured out….ehehe…

Star xx


	10. Chapter 10

**The Acquaintances**

I apologize sincerely. I really do. That second chapter of The New Year Night (former Revelation) was pure, undiluted crap. Really. Well, I plan to write an epilogue for that anyway. That, hopefully, will tone it down a bit.

This is the tenth chapter! Milestone! Oh, and Drew and Lyra tied for the poll on who should win. So you'll just have to wait and see. Teehee!

Disclaimer: Oh, sorry, what was that? Can't hear over the voices screaming that I don't own anything.

* * *

"Thank you for your patience! The battle round is just beginning, and our computer will randomly shuffle the contestants to determine the matchups!" Vivian announced.

The four cards with Drew, Lyra, May, and Dawn's faces on them appeared, spinning around before settling. The first battle was Dawn against Drew, and then Paul against Lyra.

"Whoever wins these battles will battle each other in the finals," Misty murmured.

"Well, obviously," someone snickered from the row above Misty. Looking up, she saw Gary sprawled over a seat, smirking down at her.

Misty flushed red, ready to beat Gary with whatever happened to be on hand, when suddenly, Ash came to her defense.

"Hey! Lay off Mist, Gary. Quit acting like you're better than everyone else!" Ash said.

Gary quirked an eyebrow. "Humph. Whatever. Not worth the trouble."

Ash spun back around triumphantly. Misty was blushing again, but smiling too…that is, until she noticed Touko and May winking at her.

Then she was _mad_.

Fortunately, Vivian interrupted Misty's about-to-begin fit of fury to announce Drew and Dawn onto the stage. They both ran on, Dawn smiling happily, while Drew smirked, confident.

"Five minutes on the clock!" Vivian shouted. "So, let's begin!"

Dawn twirled around, red dress billowing. "Bagon, spotlight!"

The small Pokémon emerged surrounded by a bubble seal. On the other side of the field, Drew flicked his hair, before tossing his own pokeball into the air.

"Go, Masquerain!" Masquerain emerged from a party seal, confetti dancing around it.

Dawn made the first move. "Bagon, let's use Dragonbreath!"

Bagon released a jet of dark purple flames from its mouth, which swirled in a spiral, heading straight for Masquerain.

"Dodge, Masquerain," Drew ordered smoothly. Masquerain shifted to the side, elegantly dodging Dragonbreath.

Up in the rafters, May gasped. "He can dodge so well now, but Flygon could barely evade Altaria back in Littleroot!"

"Use Silver Wind!"

Masquerain flapped its wings, sending a spray of glittering silver energy booming across the battlefield. Bagon tried to dodge, but couldn't get far enough away and the Silver Wind slammed into it, sending Bagon sprawling into the air.

Dawn saw an opportunity. "Bagon, Aerial Ace!" Bagon quickly recovered, though not before losing a few points first, and then started to gather speed, before zooming through the air towards Masquerain.

"Quick, use Bug Buzz!" Masquerain let out a high-pitched screech, releasing red vibrations into the air. Bagon tried to plug its ears as Dawn ordered. Bagon made it all the way to the last vibration, before a new one hit it and Bagon was sent tumbling, making Dawn lose a lot of points.

"Bagon, Zen Headbutt!" Bagon's head glowed light purple. It bounced off the stadium walls, before using the momentum to crash into Masquerain. Though it wasn't very effective, it still cost Drew some points. But then…

"Catch Bagon!"

Masquerain gripped Bagon with its wings just before it fell, and Dawn's points immediately dropped a bit.

"Use Ominous Wind!"

Bagon was torn out of Masquerain's grasp as the ghost attack hit it full in the face, and it crashed away onto the field. Dawn gasped in horror, hands going to her mouth.

Just then, the buzzer sounded.

"Time is up!" Vivian declared. "And the winner is…" Everybody turned to look at the screen. Drew had just over half his points, while Dawn's points were almost out. "Drew! Please give him a big hand!" Vivian said.

Dawn returned Bagon a little shakily before exiting the stage. May, Misty, and Touko clapped somewhat glumly, slouching down in their seats. They were reinvigorated, however, when Lyra and Paul ran on stage.

"Yeah!" Touko said. "No way Ly's gonna lose!"

"Five minutes on the clock! And,,,begin!"

"Ursaring, battle position!" Ursaring burst from its ball, again, without a seal.

Lyra smiled. She pulled out a pokeball. "Spinda, take your place!"

Paul gaped in astonishment. A Spinda against his Ursaring?

Spinda tottered onto the field in a petal seal. It spun around for a bit, dizzy, before facing Ursaring.

A huge cheer sounded where the princesses sat.

May cracked up. "She's *gasp* using *gasp* _Spinda!_"

Touko was equally breathless. "Bwahahahaha! Paul and Ursaring are dead meat!"

Misty was on her feet cheering. "Go Lyra! You too Spinda! Knock 'em dead!"

N sweatdropped. "You know," he said to Touko, "Paul could win."

Touko shook a finger at him. "Never bet against Spinda, young grasshopper. Never bet against Spinda."

"…" N looked slightly disturbed.

Paul smirked, already confident in his win. "Ursaring, use Slash!"

Ursaring leaped towards Spinda, claws extended.

Lyra smiled. "Spinda, Dizzy Punch."

Spinda's eyes focused on Ursaring, and in that instant, it wasn't just a cute, harmless baby anymore. It's eyes narrowed into slits, an evil aura positively emanating from it. Its ears glowed with psychedelic colour, and it stood to meet Ursaring head-on.

"_Bang! Bang—crash!_"

A huge cloud of smoke ensued. When it cleared, Ursaring was in a heap at Paul's feet, while Spinda stood, still with that evil aura.

The entire crowd gasped, while Misty, May and Touko hooted with laughter, clutching their stomachs.

Paul was stunned. "But…how?" His points had just dropped sharply, while Lyra's remained untouched.

Now, it was Lyra's turn to smirk. "Sweetie, let's wrap this up. Double-edge!"

Spinda leaped up, high above Ursaring, before shooting down head-first, a white glow surrounding its body.

Paul gritted his teeth. "Get up, Ursaring!" Ursaring struggled, clearly still winded. It managed to stagger back up, but just as Paul was about to call a command, Spinda hit.

Ursaring was driven all the way to the stadium walls, cracking them, before flopping down, out cold. At the same time, Paul's points hit zero, with Lyra's remaining pristine.

Vivian blinked, before announcing Lyra as the winner. May, Misty, and Touko jumped up and down, trying to get Lyra's attention. Lyra looked up at them and grinned, Spinda perched on her head. Seeing Silver gaping at her, Lyra snickered and winked at him, causing him to turn a rather deep shade of crimson.

* * *

A little while later, Drew and Lyra ran on stage for the final double battle. Lyra sent out Scyther and Dragonair, both bursting out of their pokeballs surrounded by a crown seal, while Drew used a firework seal to showcase his Flygon and Absol. May, Misty, and Touko were biting their nails in anticipation. It looked like this would go down to the wire.

Drew made the first move. "Absol, Razor Wind! Flygon, use Sandstorm!"

Lyra was ready for him. "Scyther, counter with your Razor Wind! Dragonair, Aqua Tail!"

The two Razor Winds collided, causing an explosion. Meanwhile, Dragonair flew into the Sandstorm and used Aqua Tail, smashing the sand and sending the attack onto Flygon, who was tossed backwards, landing heavily.

"Flygon!" Drew yelled. Flygon struggled back into the air. Lyra frowned.

"Scyther, Air Slash!" Scyther sent sharp blades of wind to Absol, and though it dodged most of them, the last one still hit its mark, costing Drew some points and winding Absol as well. Drew, however, wasn't beaten yet.

"Dragon Formation, now!" Drew called. (A.N. Remember this? XP)

Flygon used Dragonbreath, while Absol launched Razor Wind.

Lyra gasped. "Quick, Dragonair, Protect!"

A blue halo of light shimmered around Lyra's Pokémon, rendering Dragon Formation ineffective and simultaneously dwindling Drew's points.

"Now, Scyther, Razor Wind, and Dragonair, Dragon Rush!"

Instead of the normal head-on Dragon Rush, Dragonair used its whole body to launch a spinning bolt of energy through the air. Scyther's Razor Wind combined with Dragon Rush, creating an enormous wall of power that threw Flygon and Absol backwards. Drew's points were now dangerously low.

Drew gritted his teeth. "Flygon, Dragonbreath, full power! Absol, Water Pulse!"

Drew was clearly putting all his strength behind this combination, and Lyra decided to meet him head-on.

"Scyther, Air Slash! Dragonair, Blizzard!"

The two fronts surged towards each other, colliding in the middle with a huge crash. Both sides' Pokemon were thrown backwards, and landed on the field.

Lyra gasped. "Scyther! Dragonair!"

Drew didn't say anything, but instead stepped forward, eyes wide.

The buzzer sounded.

Lyra.

Drew.

May.

Misty.

Touko.

Vivian.

Silver.

N.

Ash.

Gary.

The judges.

Everybody else in the room.

_The points screen_.

The difference was infinitesimally, unbelievably, _idiotically _small, but there was a difference.

The winner.

Was.

Lyra.

* * *

Backstage, Lyra was crushed by her friends, Dawn, gushing about how gorgeous Dragonair looked, May, squealing about Spinda, Misty, grinning and laughing and grinning again, and Touko, talking nonstop.

* * *

Lyra extracted herself, feeling like her bones had been compressed, when she saw Silver walking towards her. She felt her breath catch, involuntarily thinking back to the masquerade ball kiss, mind frantically searching for something to say, but then—then—oh—oh, dear _God_—Silver was—he was—he—

There.

On a balcony overlooking the beach.

With the ocean sunset behind them.

Lyra.

And Silver.

Kissing.

* * *

Yaaay! Me is done! Hope you liked this! And yep, Lyra won. I was indecisive for a while, but then I thought of the sunset kiss scene and I just _had_ to make Lyra win. Euhuehuehuehue…


	11. Chapter 11

**The Acquaintances**

This is the eleventh chapter. Boy, this story's taking a long time to finish.

Warning: I will _not_ update for a while. You are warned.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the characters or basically anything in this fanfic. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.

* * *

Lyra stormed into their room on the Magnet Train, studiously ignoring the jeers of her fellow princesses.

"Jeez, Ly. Lighten up a little, will you? You know we don't mean it," Touko said, flopping down on her bunk.

Lyra snorted. "The smirk on your face seems to suggest otherwise, Touko."

"Come on. Just think, Lyra. Silver's a guy, he's cute, he's of high social status, he _obviously likes you—"_

"—Shut up—"

"—why wouldn't you be happy? We're happy for you," Misty stated, struggling to keep the goofy grin off her face.

"Of course," Lyra deadpanned. "Which is totally why you're teasing me to hell right now."

May pouted. "Aw, you know that's just our way of celebrating everything. You do it too, like it or not."

"Besides," Dawn added, "You can't exactly pretend you're not happy about it either. Just look: You won a contest, looked great in it, _and_ Silver kissed you, this time without Solidad and Harley egging him on. We even get to tease you. Really, it's a win-win."

Lyra groaned. "You know, Dawn, sometimes you're really smart, albeit with twisted logic, and sometimes you're just a happy-go-lucky egghead. It's confusing."

"Hey!" Dawn smacked Lyra over the head with a pillow. "What do you mean, egghead?"

Misty sighed. "Calm down, people. Look, tomorrow we have a day off, since we get off in Slateport day after tomorrow. We can argue later, alright? It's, like, eleven, and I want to sleep already."

Touko put a slender finger to her chin. "Fine with me. By the way, Mist, I've been meaning to ask: The route to Dewford is a water route, right? So how is the Magnet Train able to cross from Rustboro to Dewford to Slateport?"

Misty let out a relieved breath at the change of topic. "Well, the Magnet Train goes underground. The water around Dewford is shallow enough to dig a trench for the train to pass through. Consequently, the trench was dug with the best technology at the time, so the Magnet Train moves much faster their, which is why we were able to get all the way from Rustboro to Dewford in one night. We're stopping for a bit on the way to Slateport so the conductor can pay respect to the Abandoned Ship. It's tradition to pay your respects when you pass through the area. It's also why there's a day between Dewford and Slateport. We're not getting off, but it's a nice opportunity to sleep in and relax."

(A.N. I did extensive research on the geography of Hoenn to write that paragraph. Meaning, serebii, bulbapedia, and google images.)

"W-wait. We're _underwater_?" Lyra looked like she was about to hyperventilate. "I can almost feel an asthma attack coming on…"

May giggled. "Relax, Ly. The whole thing is expertly ventilated. The fact that you haven't died yet must allude to something, right?"

Lyra let her shoulders down. "I guess. How about we just sleep? I need to take my mind off what Misty said for a while."

Misty grinned. "'Kay. You guys get ready for bed. I'm gonna go…shower!"

Misty ducked behind the door of the bathroom, locking it securely shut. Five minutes later, she emerged to a barrage of pillows and angry voices, throwing herself onto her bunk.

May was the closest to the bathroom at this point, and quickly took Misty's place.

This continued for about twenty-five minutes, before all the girls were securely in bed.

* * *

Touko emerged from out under the covers the next morning, the room in semi-darkness with the closed curtains and the lack of sunlight.

"Huh. We must be deeper underground than before. Or maybe I just didn't notice…" Touko mumbled, hooking her legs onto the bunk ladder and lowering herself down to the ground. Just then, a sharp knock sounded at the door, waking the other girls. Dawn walked to the door, still groggy from sleep, and opened the door to find no other than Barry standing there, overenthusiastic as always, and far too awake for Dawn's liking.

"Hey, Dawn! I found this awesome greenhouse last night. You wanna come?"

_Greenhouse?_ Dawn wondered. _Oh, it must be the one N took Touko to…sure, why not?_

Dawn rubbed her eyes and nodded, signaling to Barry to wait a sec.

"Hurry up! If you don't come out soon, I'm fining you!"

The other four princesses exchanged curious glances; they were pretty sure it should've been Paul at the door, not Barry. Oh well, more jealous candy for Paul then…

Dawn slid into a form-fitting silver sweater that reached down to just above her knees, sleeves hugging her slim arms, fishnet leggings, ankle boots, and Paul's charm bracelet, letting her hair tumble down in navy curls. Brushing her teeth, Dawn splashed icy water on her face, before stepping out into the hallway.

"Okay—let's go!" Dawn said cheerfully, unaware of a dark silhouette watching her from further down the hallway.

Paul watched the shining silver form of Dawn walk off with Barry. He sighed. At least she was wearing his charm bracelet…

Twenty minutes later, the other four girls trooped out of their room towards their favourite breakfast parlour—the place with the strawberry frozen ice cream. Getting their, they found Paul and Ash sitting at one of the tables. Ash was loudly arguing about how he could totally 'wipe the floor' with Paul in a Pokemon battle, while Paul sat there, silently ignoring Ash and eating his toast.

Finally, Ash yelled, loud enough for the whole place to hear:

"I challenge you to a battle!"

Paul looked up from his toast and stood up without a word, walking out with Ash. On his way out, he stopped by Misty for a second and whispered a question in Misty's ear. She giggled and whispered back.

Touko smoothed the collar of her crisp blouse, before turning to Misty. "What did he ask you?"

Misty grinned like a Cheshire cat. "What Dawn's favourite colour was."

The other three simultaneously squealed with glee.

"I told him violet of course," Misty added, sounding superior, "But we'll still have to wait and see what he gets her…"

Giggling, all three girls sat down. Misty rolled up the sleeves of her gray hoodie.

"We'll have the hash browns, please. No ketchup, yeah. And a plate of orange slices, thanks," Misty told the waiter.

May leaned forward in her seat. "Hey, I'm feeling girly today. So…what do you say we get our nails done? There's a professional nail stylist here."

Lyra's eyes grew wide. "Really? That's awesome! We should really go!"

Misty inspected her cuticles. "Well, I don't see why not. We don't have anything else to do, after all."

Touko shrugged. "Sure. It sounds like fun, for sure."

"Great!" May grinned. "Let's go right after breakfast!"

The girls exited the nail salon at sunset, admiring their professionally done nails.

Touko's were painted a brilliant shade of scarlet, highlighting the sharp points of her long nails. She had opted out of any designs, preferring instead to let the popping red speak for itself. Coincidentally, the red matched the colour of her skinny jeans perfectly.

Misty had gotten hers done in apple green, an elegant crab apple flower white-nail-pencilled onto each nail, with two on her thumbs.

Instead of painting her nails, May had gotten a simple French manicure, her nails shining with a soft sheen. Now, they gleamed under the lights.

Lyra's nails were done in a glittery gradient of turquoise to white, her nails filed down short. The bold glitter contrasted perfectly with her delicate frame.

* * *

They'd ordered room service—tacos and milkshakes—and were sitting in front of the TV watching Wheel of Fortune and sipping their drinks when Dawn stepped in, saying goodbye to Barry. Upon seeing the girls' beautiful nails, she screeched.

"_NOT FAIR!_"

Dawn soon calmed down, however, and was eating her own taco (Barry having been enough of a doofus to not buy her dinner), when the door opened and Paul stepped in. Dawn turned her head and her face split into a grin when she saw the amethyst earrings Paul was holding.

"Paul! You—you didn't have to! Ohmaigawd, this is awesome!" Dawn took the earrings from Paul, beaming bright enough to light up the whole train. She hugged Paul, who stood there awkwardly—but was that a blush?

"I am _so_ wearing these tomorrow! Thanks so much!" Dawn cried. Paul managed a gruff "no problem" before exiting the room, leaving Dawn to flop down on her bunk in happiness.

* * *

So. This is done, and centered on Ikarishipping, because it's the easiest to write for me. This is such a filler it's not even funny. Oh, and my 'r' key is kind of stuck, so excuse any weird misspellings you might find. 'Kay. Bye!


	12. Chapter 12

**The Acquaintances**

Good day. You may thank me for putting off the twenty-three pages of Harmony and four pages of History word-for-word memorization I have to do to write this. Harmony memorization assignments not included. So, I started a new story, even though it probably wasn't very sensible of me (0.0) and they'll probably be updated in turns.

Disclaimer: Jeez. My brain isn't _that_ big. I can't hold the Pokémon empire _and_ music theory in there at once. No, thank you, I would not like to spontaneously combust.

* * *

_He is sensible and so incredible_

_And all my single friends are jealous_

_He says everything I need to hear and it's like_

_I couldn't ask for anything better_

"…" Misty sat up in bed, staring at May while the music continued to play.

_He opens up my door_

_And I get into his car_

_And he says, "You look beautiful tonight."_

_And I feel perfectly fine_

May shifted, feeling uncomfortable, before hitting the dismiss button on her alarm, abruptly cutting the song off. "What? I didn't want a repeat of last time we got off, so I set my alarm for forty-five minutes earlier."

Dawn rubbed her eyes. "Look, May, I can respect that. But…couldn't you have told us earlier?"

May crossed her arms defensively. "It doesn't really matter, anyway, right?"

Lyra stared at May. "Yes, it does."

"W-well, how does it matter, then?"

Touko smirked. "Isn't it obvious, May?" Touko drawled. "We would _never_ have let you pick that song for the alarm."

May sweatdropped. _Is that all?_

"Yeah!" Misty chimed in. "Something like Eyes Open would've been better. Or even, I dunno, Tell Me Why."

May's head drooped down even further. _I swear, sometimes…_

"Well, anyway, we need to get up, right? Train drops us off at nine forty-five, and we need to get ready," Touko said.

Dawn's face split in a yawn. "Yeah…hey, can anybody help me with my bedhead?"

Misty snorted. "Alright, Lady Queen. Would you like frozen strawberries with that?"

Dawn pouted. "Just…come on!"

May grinned. She climbed off her bed, and slid into the bathroom for a short shower, before changing into a sparkly, sleeveless pink dress tied at the waist with a thin, light-coloured belt around her waist and a pair of equally sparkly low-heeled pumps the same colour as the belt. She quickly combed her hair, teasing it into spiraling curls, before brushing her teeth. Splashing her face with water, May grabbed her circlet and set in into her hair, careful to avoid messing up the curls.

Dawn was next in the shower. Stepping out in a towel, Dawn slicked back her damp blue hair with both hands. _Well, that's another way to solve a bedhead…_ Dawn ran a comb through her hair, then tied it up in a bun. Sliding into a long, cream-coloured tank top and dark fishnet tights, Dawn replaced May at the sink and carefully disinfected and put on Paul's amethyst earrings, oblivious to the cheshire-cat-like grins of the other girls. After the earrings were done, Dawn gave up the sink to an impatient, showered Touko and slipped into a short, lacy, flower-patterned dress that reached down to mid-thigh length.

Touko, dressed already in a blue shirt printed with red roses tucked into old-newspaper-brown short shorts, finished at the sink and tied her hair up in a high ponytail, bangs falling in her face, before applying impeccable black eyeliner and red lip gloss to match her nails.

Lyra exited the shower, pulling on a knee-length, short-sleeved white dress printed with blue flowers and mauve flats. She tucked her hair into a french braid, setting her circlet on, before rushing to the sink to brush her teeth before Misty finished in the shower and got impatient, hastily dusting her eyes with glittery white shadow and applying pale lipliner as well.

Misty grumbled in front of the sink, not changed yet, when she saw all the makeup products there. _If you're going to do yourself up, at least clean up after…_Finishing at the sink, Misty put on a white cotton button-up, ignoring the chin button, causing the collar to flop open down in a V-neck to the second button, and light gray skinny jeans with white high-tops. Sticking her hair into the spiky side ponytail, Misty clamped her fingers around her circlet and entered the bedroom.

"It's nine twenty already? Come on, let's hurry!" Dawn cried, waving at the girls to follow her.

* * *

After breakfast on the train, the girls, accompanied by Ash, N, Paul, and Barry, exited the station into Slateport City.

"Wow!" Lyra gazed around at the soaring buildings. "The only city this big in Johto is Goldenrod!"

Touko prodded May. "Hey, May, do you know any good places we can visit today?"

May grinned. "I've got just the place!" She pointed north, along a straight, paved road. "The Slateport Market!"

Aaand…cue simultaneous groans from the guys. Except for Paul, of course. He's too classy to groan.

Misty squealed, the piercing whine driving daggers into the eardrums of other patrons when she spied the doll shops lined up neatly along one side of the market.

"Ohmaigawd! LOOK! They have Azurill dolls! Oh, aren't they the cutest things, Togepi?" Misty asked, eyes wide as she took in the water-type dolls arranged in a row. Togepi waved its arms happily, cooing.

Ash coughed, slightly uncomfortable. "Um, you know, Mist, i—i—if you want, I…could buy that for you…"

Misty gaped at Ash for so long he shifted, wondering if he just did something wrong. Oh, why couldn't he talk to girls like Gary?

"R—really? You'd buy that?" Misty asked. Ash nodded.

Misty squealed again, this time earning several glares. She leaped on Ash. "Dear God, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" 

Meanwhile, May leaned over another row of dolls. "Hmmm…that Skitty one sure is cute…"

An arm to the side of her caught her attention. "Huh?" May turned and almost had an epiphany as she saw Drew standing there, handing a 3000 poke bill to the cashier and receiving a Skitty doll in return. Before she knew it, Drew had stuck a rose in the Skitty's mouth and held it out to her.

(A.N. I'm not kidding. Skitty dolls at the Slateport Market really do cost 3000 poke.)

May gasped and took the Skitty, mouth hanging open. "Drew…you didn't have to…"

Drew flicked his hair and smirked. "What, and have you standing there ogling that Skitty doll forever? Come on, May, you _know_ the only doll you're supposed to be ogling here is _moi_. Right?"

May huffed. "Just when I think you're starting to be nice…"

Drew pretended to be offended. "Since when am I not nice?"

Touko put an arm between May and Drew, breaking them off. "Alright, you two lovebirds, go get a room. I want to check out the Cubchoo dolls."

"Okay, so one Cubchoo doll is 3000 poke…let's see….one thousand, two, three…"

"There won't be any need for that," a smooth voice interrupted. N handed three one thousand bills to the cashier, promptly giving Touko her doll. She squeezed the Cubchoo doll, before grinning up at N happily. He smiled back. So it cost three thousand. Who cared?

Down by another row of dolls, Paul gruffly handed Dawn a Buneary doll, standing stoically and emotionlessly receiving Dawn's bear hug.

Watching them, Lyra giggled. "You know Paul, one of these days you're going to go bankrupt buying Dawn stuff."

Paul simply snorted. "Troublesome," he muttered, before stalking away. Dawn's face exploded.

"_Excuse me?_"

Lyra smiled softly, watching them, before turning back to the dolls. She had to admit, that Dratini one was really cute.

"You like that one?" Lyra turned and saw Ethan standing behind her, looking over her shoulder.

"Y-yeah," Lyra said. "But it's okay, you don't have to pay…"

Ethan snickered. "Who said _I_ was going to pay?" He turned around and waved at a figure. A _very_ familiar, red-haired figure. Lyra's stomach sank to the floor.

"Hey, Silver, get over here!"

Silver marched up to Ethan. "What's up?"

Ethan grinned at him. "Hey, so, Ly wants this Dratini doll, but I only have one thousand…you wanna pitch in for the other two thousand?"

Silver turned to look at Lyra, and she shuffled her feet around, feeling anxious. "I said, it's okay. I can buy one myself."

"Au contraire," Ethan said, smirking, "It's a guy's duty to buy a girl what she likes, right?"

Silver opened his wallet, oblivious to Lyra's protests. "I have a full three thousand here. Don't pay anything, Ethan."

Ethan grinned. "Alright! You rule, buddy! 'Kay, bye, Ly!" And with that, Ethan skipped off, clearly elated about being spared one thousand poke.

Silver bought the Dratini doll for Lyra, ignoring Lyra insisting that he didn't have too, before giving it to her.

Lyra pouted. "Okay, fine. But I'm paying you back," she added insistently.

Silver gave her a rare, fleeting smile. "Promise?" he asked, holding out a pinky finger.

Lyra grinned. "Sure. Promise. Whoever breaks this is a level one Magikarp!"

* * *

Level one Magikarp, huh? Poor baby…

Hope you liked this one!


	13. Chapter 13

**The Acquaintances**

Thirteenth chapter of The Acquaintances. I wonder how long this will turn out to be…

I've been obsessed with Ikarishipping lately, so this chapter will contain lots of it. Oh, and Ferriswheelshipping. And Pokeshipping. And Contestshipping. And Soulsilvershipping. Wait. That's all the shippings.

…

0_0

Disclaimer: By signing this invisible contract, the fine print of which I did not read, I hereby declare that I do not own Pokémon.

* * *

_I just wanna show you,_

_She don't even know you,_

_She's never gonna love you like I want to…_

_And you just see right through me,_

_But if you only knew me, _

_We could be a beautiful_

_Miracle_

_Unbelievable_

_Instead of just invisible…_

May bolted out of bed, hit the dismiss button, and gaped at the other girls, who were wide awake and snickering.

"You changed the song _without asking me_?" My demanded, blue eyes glinting like steel.

Misty stretched, nonchalant. "Oh, chill, May. It was four against one to switch it. And if you're worried about waking up early, I took the liberty of setting it to nine-thirty."

May fumed, before storming into the bathroom to the laughter of her "friends".

"Well, that was fun," Dawn remarked. "Come on, let's get dressed."

Dawn popped on a V-neck black-and-white striped top and white denim short shorts with black sneakers, leaving her hair down, before taking the sink from May, who headed back to their room to change.

May slipped into her favourite panda-styled hoodie and capris, tucking her hair back into a low bun and setting her circlet on her head, before grabbing her mascara and applying it while sitting on her bed.

Lyra put on a powder-blue off-the-shoulder dress with loose, sheer sleeves and silver gladiator sandals, sleeking her brown hair back and combing out her full bangs and proceeded to the sink when Dawn left, circlet in hand.

Misty grabbed a short crimson dress with a sheer, red-tinted back and golden roses embroidered on it, matching it with sheer, faintly golden tights and ballet flats. Putting on her circlet, Misty replaced Lyra at the sink, noting with satisfaction that the makeup products were all put away.

Back in the room, Touko picked out a blue paisley shirt and a white denim vest with high-waisted shorts and pink shoes, walking to the sink when Misty left. Leaving the bathroom, Misty noticed Touko sneeze, face a little pale, but with markedly flushed cheeks.

"Hey, Touko, you okay?" Misty asked, peering at Touko in concern.

"Yeah, Mist, I'm fine," Touko reassured her. "Just a little—achoo!—sniffy."

Misty tilted her head, before planting a hand on Touko's forehead, eyes widening in surprise. "Touko, I think you're running a fever. Come on, we can use Lyra's medical equipment."

A few minutes later, Misty exclaimed at the temperature she read. "38.5! Whoa! Touko, you are staying here until you get better. I'll get someone to help watch you."

(A.N. The 38.5 degrees is in Celsius. I think. I run fevers a lot, so this is, like, my average temperature all through Winter. XD)

"I don't need watching," Touko protested weakly.

"Nonsense," May put in. "I'll get one of the guys. Would Touya be okay?"

Touko shook her head. "He's—achoo!—taking a break. He left on the blimp to Nimbasa yesterday in Slateport to celebrate his and Rosa's one-year anniversary."

Dawn tilted her head. "How about N? He's nice enough to be willing."

Touko nodded. "Yeah, that'd be—achoo!—great. Thanks, Dawn."

An evil smirk crawled up her face. "So. There any particular reason you'd like _N_ to help you, Touko?" Dawn asked innocently.

Touko groaned mentally. Even with a fever, her friends were relentlessly teasing her.

"I'm just…going to lie down now…" Touko trailed off.

"You can have my bed," Lyra told her. "I'll go get N now."

Minutes later, the other four girls threw open the door and shoved a confused N inside, before slamming the door shut and running off faster than a Rapidash. N was about to open the door and head out, but then his eyes settled on a fast asleep, feverish Touko.

* * *

They'd stopped running inside a breakfast parlour, bent over, hands on knees, panting, but with huge grins etched on their faces.

After breakfast, Misty dragged May, Touko, and Dawn to the music room, wanting to play the piano. As they got there, they heard random piano keys being plinked, and Ash's voice groaning in frustration.

Misty curiously opened the closed door a crack, and saw Ash sitting at the piano, hitting random keys and scratching his head, frowning in concentration.

"Ash?" Misty queried, the girls stepping inside.

He turned abruptly, face flaming. "Oh, h-hey, Misty. What are you doing here?"

Misty sighed. "You're trying to learn how to play the piano, aren't you?"

Ash blushed even more. "Y-yeah. Only it's not really working…"

"That's because you need someone to _teach_ you, dummy," Misty said, but she sat down anyway next to Ash on the piano bench. "Come on. I'll teach you. This is Middle C…"

A little ways off, May was holding an expensive-looking violin. Readying the bow expertly, May got ready, and played a long, beautiful note.

Dawn matched that note with her own on a flute, rounded fingers holding down the metal keys.

Misty played Middle C on the piano, the notes blending together as one. Behind the piano, Lyra finished the harmony with an elegant glissando on the large harp, fingers plucking the strings with much-practiced precision.

Ash's jaw dropped. "You can all play instruments?"

Dawn giggled at his expression. "We're all classically trained in at least one instrument. I'm pretty much a flute and piccolo person, Misty is awesome on the piano, Lyra's field is with the harps and lyres, Touko can play pretty much every percussion instrument known to man, and May rocks the violin and cello."

"We can all dance ballet on pointe too," May chimed in.

"Misty's a great artist, and Touko's really good at chess," Lyra said.

"Lyra's an expert seamstress—you should see her embroidery—and Dawn reads all sorts of thick books that I would never even look at," Misty added.

Ash looked incredulous. "Wow, that's awesome!" He exclaimed, before turning to Misty. "So, Misty…"

"Yeah?" Misty replied, inquisitive.

"Would—would you be willing to teach me how to play the piano?"

Misty smiled. "Sure! We can stay until dinner."

Ash beamed. "Really? Thanks!"

The others sniggered at each other, before nudging each other. "Well, we're just gonna begoingnowbye!"

And with that, they rushed out of the music room, leaving a trail of dust behind.

Misty took in a deep breath, before screeching, voice raised several decibels:

"YOU GUYS ALL SUCK!"

Exploding with laughter, the girls collapsed inside a random room, where the occupant was cringing at Misty's most recent outburst.

The room just happened to be Drew's.

May was the first to notice, laughter drying up immediately as she noticed that they had just barged into someone's bedroom.

Dawn and Lyra were next, noticing that May had stopped laughing.

They bolted out of the room, May close on their heels. Just as they were safely in another hallway, a speaker sounded.

"Attention, this is your conductor reporting. There will be a dinner party tonight, so please dress formally or semi-formally. The party will take place in the grand ballroom on the first floor."

The three girls stared at each other, eyes shining.

"_Shopping_!"

* * *

"Oooh, this looks awesome!" Dawn cried. "I'll try it on!"

Emerging from the changing room, May and Lyra squealed as they took in Dawn's red column dress. It had a sweetheart neckline, and was a pure, solid red, with a long slit up to mid-thigh, accentuating Dawn's long legs.

"Dawn, that looks gorgeous!" May cried, and Lyra nodded along. A salesperson came up to them, proposing a beautiful dress that Lyra couldn't resist trying on, and grabbed it, heading inside another changing room.

Lyra came out in a creamy beige spaghetti-strap georgette dress with a deep V-neck. It was styled slightly like a mermaid gown, form-fitting through the hips, but changed to a sleek column from there, lacy ruffles extending down the sides to the floor. The same layered ruffles decorated her bare shoulders a little ways down her arm, topped with delicate beading.

Dawn, having bought her dress, gasped and beamed, while May grinned, nodding.

"You look gorgeous in that, Ly," Dawn said. Lyra giggled, twirling, before changing out of the dress and heading over to the front counter to buy it.

Meanwhile, May picked out a dress and rushed into a change room to try it on.

Her dress was strapless white satin, with a red bow around the empire waist and chiffon fabric over the floor-length skirt. At the hem, red roses were thickly appliquéd onto the skirt, gradually growing farther apart until they ended below May's knees.

Lyra and Dawn jumped up and down.

"Gosh, May, just think about Drew's face when he sees you in that!" Lyra squealed.

May blushed. "Shut up," she muttered, but there was a smile on her face as she looked down at her dress.

In a special dressing room before the dinner party, May tied her hair into a flat bun at the nape of her neck. Dusting her eyelids with white eyeshadow, even lining the bottom lid, May rummaged through her stuff until she found her prized white fake lashes. Applying white powder on her cheeks, May slipped on a pair of ruby earrings and gloves with seeded pearls, as well as a pair of white and red heels. Putting on the finishing touches with her scarlet lipstain, May looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like a porcelain doll with her pale skin and white fake lashes—exactly the look she wanted.

After changing, Dawn piled her hair on her head and donned dangling crystal earrings. She put on red lip stain as well, albeit in a slightly glossier finish, black eyeliner and mascara applied, with care to ensure that they were waterproof. Red strappy pumps were put on along with a last-minute application of red nail polish, designed with Dawn's favourite crackle finish. In the mirror, Dawn looked sophisticated yet feminine, daring yet demure. It was perfect.

Lyra slipped on her dress carefully, twisting her dark brown hair over one shoulder so it spilled out in a waterfall of curls. Pearl earrings were put on, and Lyra put on sheer lip gloss and glittery silver mascara and eyeliner, ivory eyeshadow dusting her lids. After some hesitation, Lyra picked up her eyeliner and lined the bottom lid with a brightly sparkling streak of silver that made her look ethereal and angelic. Slipping on beige platform heels, Lyra stepped towards the other two girls.

"Come on! Let's go!"

* * *

Dawn yawned. The dinner party had lasted well into the night, and she was very tired. Although she didn't remember seeing Paul there…

Dawn was about to turn down the familiar hallway to their room—Lyra had been hanging out with Ethan, and had told Dawn to go and sleep: she would join her soon. May had escaped to the greenhouse for a little fresh air about halfway into the party, and Lyra had promised to go get her when she left, when she remembered:

Touko was in there.

So was N.

It was probably best not to interrupt.

Therefore, Dawn made a split-second decision.

After quickly asking a hall steward, Dawn headed down a series of hallways to Paul's room.

Knocking on the door, Dawn was greeted with Paul, looking first annoyed, then merely gaping as he took in Dawn's formal dress.

Dawn walked in, explained her situation, and Paul had reluctantly agreed.

Half and hour later, Dawn was changed and showered, having been given one of Paul's T-shirts that was so big on her it reached down to just above her knees. Finishing removing her makeup, Dawn walked back into Paul's room. It was almost scrupulously neat, the room dominated by the king-size bed.

"I'll sleep on the floor," Dawn volunteered.

"No."

"But you can't—this is your room," Dawn insisted.

Paul turned to look at her, smirking.

"Who said I was sleeping on the floor?"

Dawn flushed as she understood his real meaning.

Paul climbed onto the bed. "Come on."

Dawn huffed. "I'm staying on the floor, thank you."

Paul's hand snatched her wrist. "Troublesome."

That did it. Dawn threw herself onto his bed, making sure to stay far away from him.

And it was only when Paul turned off the light that Dawn had a sudden thought.

_Maybe this was a bad idea…?_

* * *

Duh, Dawn. Duh.

So—be honestness: do you think the relationships are progressing a little too fast? I mean, they still have, like, four and a half regions to go through, right?

Anyway, goodbye! See you around…sometime.

Star xx


	14. Chapter 14

**The Acquaintances**

**This is a very important notice for anyone who is reading this:**

As of this update, **I am on hiatus.**

Like, my whole account. All stories**. Basically, I'm dead.**

**Please don't scream at me** (although you do kinda have the right to) and believe me when I say that **this decision was not made easily.** It took **massive amounts of hot chocolate, black cherry ice cream, homemade banana bread, titanic indecision, and an average of two and a half hours of sleep per night this weekend **to come to this conclusion.

The reason? **Theory and piano and clarinet.**

Be more specific? Alright. **Harmony **and** History **and** Liszt/Mozart/The Well-Tempered Clavier **and **Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony No. 6 **and **Toronto Youth Symphonic Winds auditions. **

Rejoice that this is a **temporary hiatus, **and is only likely to last until around **August 15****th**** or so**.

Therefore, until then, **no updates will be made until then. Not one.**

**I am terribly sorry**, so this notice has come with a little **Heroes of Olympus Nico-esque comforter **(i.e. The end of MoA) in the form of **the fourteenth chapter of The Acquaintances**. Enjoy my last update for a while, and **if you really have to scream at me, do it in your review.**

* * *

Disclaimer: I'm running out of cool disclaimers. Ideas, anyone?

* * *

Dawn groaned, cracking open one rebellious eyelid. She was curled up catlike on Paul's bed, the sheets rumpled up around her, the gray shirt riding up to her hips, crinkled around her waist.

The spot next to her was empty, Paul having already gotten up. Sitting up and adjusting the shirt a little self-consciously, Dawn stretched, back arching a little. Paul was nowhere to be seen, though running water could be heard from the bathroom.

Stepping out of the bed, Dawn knocked on the closed door of the bathroom.

"Paul? You in there?" Dawn called.

The door opened suddenly, almost hitting Dawn in the face.

Paul was already ready to go in jeans and a plain white shirt similar to the one he'd given Dawn.

"Do you always sleep in this late?" Paul asked.

Dawn tilted her head. "Late…?"

Turning, she checked the clock, her eyes immediately widening. "It's already ten?"

Paul smirked. "We arrive in Mauville at ten forty-five, and we have to get off by eleven. I suggest you start getting ready."

Dawn blushed. "Y-yeah. If you'll excuse me…"

Dawn brushed her teeth and took a quick shower, tying her hair up into a messy bun at the top of her head. Wrapped up in a towel, Dawn suddenly realized something.

"Paul?" Dawn asked quietly.

"What?"

"I—I, um…I don't—exactly—have…um…"

She could practically hear him smirk.

"Here."

A black long-sleeved shirt and shorts were tossed into the bathroom through a tiny crack in the door. Dawn gratefully changed into them and stepped out of the bathroom. The shorts hung loosely and Dawn had to hitch them up to her waist, and the shirt almost covered the shorts, hanging off her bare shoulders.

But hey, she wasn't complaining.

Paul turned to look at her, and blushing, Dawn quickly recovered, striking a cute pose.

"Whaddya think?" Dawn chirped.

Paul turned away. "Hn."

Dawn would've been disappointed, but then she caught the tiniest, most teensy little blush _ever_.

Grinning at her little victory, Dawn plopped down on the bed.

"So, you wanna go have breakfast, or should I go back to my room?" Dawn queried, quirking an eyebrow.

Paul pointed to a small table in the corner, where breakfast plates were set up.

"Room service. I saved you some."

Dawn gaped momentarily, before jumping out of bed and into one of the chairs at the table.

There were two fluffy, still-warm mini oat pancakes with chocolate drizzled on them topped with raspberries, a cream-filled croquette that looked to have been a pair with one that was eaten by Paul, and even a small glass bowl of mangoes and cream. An empty plate and a similar glass bowl seemed to have held Paul's pancakes and mangoes, and a tall cup of orange juice sat by the croquette.

"I didn't know if you'd like what I normally eat for breakfast, so I ordered this instead," Paul muttered, not looking Dawn in the eye.

Dawn beamed at him. "No, this is great! Thanks, Paul!"

She dug into her breakfast. She hadn't realized how famished she was until the first bite of pancake, and after that she didn't stop until virtually every crumb was gone.

Tilting her head back, Dawn drained the orange juice, wiping her mouth.

Paul was watching her, a peculiar look on his face.

"What?" Dawn asked.

"Nothing….Troublesome."

Dawn launched herself at Paul.

"Take that back!" Dawn shrieked, pushing Paul down onto the bed with her momentum.

Paul pushed her back, pinning her to the bed instead.

"…." Dawn was abruptly silenced.

Just then, the door banged open, and Misty charged in, followed by May.

"Hey, Paul have you seen Dawn—"

Paul let go of Dawn immediately, leaping back onto the bed.

Misty and May gaped at them, no doubt realizing that:

A: Dawn had just spent the night here.

B: Those definitely weren't Dawn's clothes.

And C: (A.N: I'll leave that to your imagination.)

Dawn raised her hands. "I-it's not what it looks like. I swear it isn't!"

Misty grabbed Dawn's wrist. "Paul, we're just going to, ah, borrow Dawn for a second. See you in Mauville City!"

Then May pushed them all out of the room, slamming Paul's door behind her.

* * *

Inside the room, Touko blinked up at them from her bed, Lyra reading a thermometer.

"Thirty-seven point six," Lyra read, before frowning. "It's gone down by a lot—whatever N did yesterday must've worked. You should probably still stay in bed, though—I'll get a steward to watch you or something."

Touko groaned. "Aww. I was really hoping to—achoo!—go to the game corner. Bring me some stuffed animals, Ly?"

"You bet," Lyra assured her. "Hey, Misty, May, you guys brought Dawn back….wait a second. Dawn….those aren't your clothes."

May rolled her eyes. "That's because they're Paul's."

"_What_?" Lyra barreled up, gaping at Dawn. "So…so that means…_Dawn_!"

Misty snorted. "You're a fine one to talk, Lyra. Remember where I found you last night?"

Lyra blushed. "That was Ethan's fault!"

Dawn turned to Misty. "Wait…what's this about Lyra?"

May crossed her arms behind her head. "We found her in the greenhouse last night, asleep. Her head was on Silver's lap, and he was just calmly reading some book."

Dawn frowned. "But weren't you at the greenhouse last night?"

May made a face. "Unlike you two, I actually returned to this room last night with Misty, and kicked N out."

Misty sighed. "Ash is enthusiastic and everything, but he can't sit still enough to learn piano, so he ended up trying out all the different instruments while I sat there and played the Well-Tempered Clavier and tuned him out."

Dawn grinned, changing into a loose white cotton shirt over a black tank top, blue skinny jeans, and white flats. Sweeping her hair into a ponytail, Dawn grabbed her favourite brown leather bag and dropped her sunglasses and earbuds into it.

"Well, we should be about ready to get off in Mauville. Let's go!"

* * *

They went immediately to the game corner in Mauville. Misty stuck to the racing games, Dawn played target practice, Lyra going to the stuffed-animals-wrench game, manoeuvring the crane to get the cutest stuffed rabbit fro Touko, while May teamed up with Drew against Brendan and Kris, who had arranged to meet Brendan in Mauville, in a game of foosball.

May, beating Brendan and Kris, jumped up with happiness and threw her arms around Drew.

"Geez, when will those two just get together?" Kris stage-whispered to Brendan, causing May to yelp indignantly and chase her around the game corner while Drew and Brendan looked on, Drew smirking and Brendan grinning.

Dawn finished at the target practice game, before hearing one of her favourite songs being played from the game corner speakers. Grinning, she popped her earbuds out and plugged them in, playing the exact same song and unconsciously singing along.

Dawn sang along, sitting down on a plush couch, tapping a finger against her knee to the beat. She saw May finally stop chasing Kris, only to be egged on again, this time by Brendan, Misty scolding Ash for tripping onto her, Gary smirking a little ways off, obviously the one who tripped Ash, Lyra still carrying that stuffed animal around, this time playing a fishing game. The song ended, and Dawn pouted momentarily—before spotting a karaoke machine in the corner.

Dawn hopped off the couch and over to the machine. The other girls joined her, and they shared conspiratorial smiles, before Dawn put on an album that seemed perfectly suited to the mood.

"How do you guys feel about…The Best Damn Thing?"

As the first track started to play, the girls leaped onto a stage set up with instruments and microphones, singing. Touko sat at the drum set, May picked up a guitar and played a few experimental chords, Lyra and Dawn sang, while Misty stood at the electric keyboard. Kris joined them halfway in, and sang along with Lyra and Dawn.

Before long, a crowd had gathered in front of the stage at the game corner, and people started requesting songs.

After the third or fourth request, Misty put together a tracklist of songs that seemed to be popular.

One: The Best Damn Thing

Two: Part of Me

Three: What the Hell

Four: Our Song

Five: Stronger

Six: Come and Get It

Seven: Sk8er Boi

Eight: Tidal Wave

Nine: Holy Ground

Ten: Girlfriend

Eleven: Complicated

Twelve: Smile

Thirteen: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

Fourteen: Deer in the Headlights

Fifteen: 22

Sixteen: Picture to Burn

Seventeen: Rock and Roll

They sang all those songs one by one, and by the end, all the games were neglected, all the people in the game corner seemingly magically drawn to the stage.

They finished, laughing and passing around high fives. The euphoria continued all the way through dinner, and by the time they made it back to their room, the girls were all exhausted but feeling lighter than air.

* * *

Touko made a face at them upon hearing what a great time they had.

"Well, at least I get the stuffed rabbit," Touko muttered, burrowing down into her covers. "I still can't believe—"

"Can't believe what?" May sniggered. "That our day was so awesome?"

Touko stuck out her tongue at her. "No, that you left me here basically immobile _without any medicine_!"

* * *

So. The songs are mostly by Avril Lavigne, as I am a Black Star and the kind of mood in the game center is associated with Avril in my mind, more so than the other artists I like, although a healthy dose of Taylor Swift is sprinkled in there too, along with…let's see…Owl City, Kelly Clarkson (one song haha), Selena Gomez, and Katy Perry. I don't own any of the songs.


	15. Chapter 15

**The Acquaintances**

EXAMS ARE OVER! I AM BACK!

And I have a question: for anybody here who's done Basic Harmony, does the rhythmic pattern in the melody writing really matter? Like, do you have to have a specific order of eighth notes and quarter notes and whatever in, like, a Gigue or Bourree or something? Because I wasn't filled in on that, so if whatever rhythm I put in my Bourree for melody writing is wrong or something, will I fail the whole thing? Because my cadences were all right, and the last four bars is just copying and then the final cadence, so if the rhythm doesn't matter, then I should be okay on Harmony. If it does matter…whoo. *Shudders*

The disclaimer below was kindly supplied by Bubbles1011, who is _awesome_.

Disclaimer: A wild Nightstardust appeared! The wild Nightstardust used Disclaimer! The wild Nightstardust fled!

* * *

"OMIGOD!" May shrieked. "_He kissed her_!"

Dawn, who was combing her hair in the bathroom, rushed back into the room, comb falling on the floor with a clatter.

"What? He did?" Dawn asked, slamming on the floor next to the other girls.

They were watching some nameless high school drama, in which the heroine had been kissed by the hero at prom, while the camera cut back to the third wheel, sulking in a corner.

Lyra flopped onto her back. "Love triangles are so cheesy. I just want that sulky guy to disappear already."

Touko fidgeted with her earrings. "Ly, this _is_ a high school drama. There's gotta be some sort of romantic conflict."

Misty bounced Togepi up, catching it and bouncing it back up again. "Why we're even watching this, I'll never know."

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. Before the girls could answer it, however, it opened to reveal Kris, who was boarding with Brendan until the next stop.

"What are you guys doing?" Kris asked.

"Watching TV," May replied.

"That's it? Come on, this is The Acquaintance. You gotta be doing something!"

The girls shook their heads. "We're fine, thank you," they chorused.

Kris sighed. "How about this? You'll each spend the day with one of the guys here."

They shrugged. "Sure."

Then Kris's brain sparked an idea. "But I'm picking which guy."

Then they glared. "No."

Kris glared back. "No choice, busters. Come along now, file along."

"Why Brendan is engaged to you I'll never know," Touko muttered rebelliously as she reluctantly trudged out of the room behind the other girls.

* * *

"OK. May, you go with Kerry."

All the passengers were lined up (against their will) in the grand ballroom.

Reluctantly, May and Kerry walked out, Kris studiously ignoring Drew's glare.

"Dawn…..how about Barry?"

Dawn was just about to leave, relieved that she wasn't with somebody too horrible, when a voice spoke up.

"No." Paul stated.

Kris matched his stare. "I'm sorry?"

Paul took a step forward. "No. Come on, Dawn."

Blinking, Dawn was pulled out of the room with Paul.

Kris sighed. "Well, that's that, I guess. Touko, with Cheren. Now."

An audible heave of a sigh was heard from N, and Misty snickered and patted his shoulder as Touko left with Cheren.

"Misty, apparently, you spent the whole of the day before yesterday with Ash. So that means….Gary."

Misty folded her arms. "Sorry, Kris. Not happening."

Gary faked hurt. "Why, dollie…nah, just kidding."

"Oh, oh!" Ash said. "Mist can come with me, I don't mind!"

Kris facepalmed as Ash, not waiting for her to answer, grabbed Misty's hand and pulled her away.

"So that leaves…Lyra. Ethan, then. You two know each other, so this should be okay, right?"

Silver mentally brutally murdered Kris, before attempting to come up with a plot which would distract Ethan from Lyra.

"We're all done. See? Wasn't too bad," Kris said, smiling brightly and walking out of the room, unaware of some of the piercing glares certain guys (wink, wink) were sending her way.

* * *

Ash pulled Misty into the music room and sat her on the piano bench.

Misty looked at Ash. "Yeah?"

Ash fiddled with his hat, uncharacteristically shy. "Could you…um….sing? And…play the piano?"

Misty tilted her head. "Sure."

She tapped a few keys, before finding a familiar tune and going with it.

_The stars lean down to kiss you,_

_And I lie awake and miss you,_

_Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere…_

"I know this song!" Ash exclaimed. He began singing with her, as Misty continued to play.

'_Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly,_

_But I'll miss your arms around me,_

_I'd send a postcard to you, dear,_

'_Cause I wish you were here…_

When they finished, they were silent for a while, not sure what they'd just experienced.

"Hey, Mist?" Ash asked, sounding nervous.

Misty tilted her head towards him. "Hmm?"

Ash leaned forward and kissed Misty gently. When he pulled away, Misty was dumbstruck. Stuttering, Misty twiddled her thumbs in her lap, looking down at her fingers.

…She had to admit that it had felt kind of…nice.

* * *

May and Kerry sat in the library. May had actually never been there before, but Kerry was apparently very familiar with it, as he pulled out a book and started reading immediately after they entered.

Grabbing a book as well, May looked inquisitively at Kerry.

"Do you just read here all day?" May asked him.

Kerry nodded. "Pretty much. I mean, it's clear I don't like anybody here, and nobody likes me, so why bother? I'm treating this as a vacation."

May grinned at him. "Makes sense."

May opened her book, surprised to find a pressed rose petal between the cover and the first page. She picked it up—it was still fresh, obviously having been put there not long ago.

May looked around curiously, finding nothing. Shrugging, she returned to her book. It was short, and she finished it quickly, skimming through some pages. Returning to the bookshelf, May selected another one that looked good. Opening it, she found yet another rose petal there. This time, May caught a shadow disappearing around the corner. Not thinking much of it, May tucked the petals into the pocket of her orange hoodie, reading her book.

Around the corner, Drew groaned inwardly. Damn, May was dense.

* * *

Paul and Dawn walked into his room. Paul fiddled with Dawn's charm bracelet. Noticing, Dawn flashed a grin at him.

"I'm wearing it. And those earrings you gave me too!" She chirped.

Paul grunted. "I can see that."

Pulling two cans of Coke out of his cooler, Paul handed one to Dawn, who took it gratefully.

"Thanks."

Paul lay down on the bed. Dawn sat at the edge of it, sipping her Coke.

"So, what do you want to do?" Dawn asked Paul.

"What do you want to do?" Paul countered.

Dawn's reply was prompt. "Nothing!"

"Then do nothing."

Dawn placed her Coke back in the cooler, and pulled herself onto Paul's bed next to him.

Unexpectedly, Paul's arm shot out around her shoulder, pulling Dawn against him. Surprised, Dawn glanced up at him, but his face was emotionless, staring fixedly at the ceiling.

Smiling to herself, Dawn curled up into a tight ball against Paul and snuggled into his shoulder. Closing her eyes, Dawn drifted off into sleep. The last thing she felt was Paul pulling the sheets over them before her heavy eyelids shut everything out.

* * *

Ethan and Lyra walked into a shop for Pokegears. There were all sorts of Pokegears, along with C-Gears, a blue and pink Poketch, and a separate tray of Pokenavs off to the right.

Ethan pointed to a white and purple Pokegear Lyra was admiring. "You want that one, Ly?"

"It looks cool…how much is it?" Lyra asked the cashier.

"4000 Poke normally, but we have a discount, so you can have it for only 2500," the cashier replied.

Lyra grinned. "I'll take it, thanks!"

She bought the Pokegear and slid it on. "Wow, it has a world map, call functions, even radio! I'll put on the Pokeflute!"

Ethan already had a blue and yellow Pokegear, but it was on an old version, and he had it upgraded with the newest software.

They walked out of the shop and almost ran into Silver, who greeted Ethan somewhat coldly.

Lyra suddenly remembered. "Oh, yeah, Silver! I still owe you money! Good thing I've got my purse with me—here you go. It's the right amount, right?"

Silver took the money. "Yeah, thanks."

Ethan snorted at Silver. "Wow, buddy, you're so gentlemanly, taking so much money."

Lyra glared at Ethan. "He bought that Pokedoll at the Slateport Market for me. I was paying him back. We shook hands on this."

Ethan shrugged. "Whatever. I mean, courtesy, man!"

Lyra made a face at him. "Suit yourself. I'm going with Silver."

That woke Ethan up. "Wait, what?"

* * *

But their figures were already disappearing around the corner, hand in hand.

Touko and Cheren were playing chess in the games room, and probably for the first time in his life, Cheren was losing at it.

Touko, smirking, moved her queen one last square.

"Checkmate," Touko said, one hand twisting her earrings nonchalantly.

Cheren groaned. "I've never lost this badly before."

Touko shrugged. "Hey, don't feel bad. I'm practically unbeatable."

Cheren's head snapped up. "Before today, I was unbeatable too. Then you came along."

Touko smiled. "Hey, don't feel bad. You still own everybody else. Just not me."

"Chess is an odd game," a familiar voice said from behind Touko. She turned to find N peering at the chess board.

"I mean, why is the queen the best piece? Shouldn't that be the king?"

Cheren shook his head. "It's just like in real life. The pawns represent the common soldiers, the infantry—they can only move forward, never back, until they are eliminated. The rooks represent the castles—they are walls, literally. They can move, but only in straight lines vertically or horizontally, but they can crush whatever is in their past. When two castles meet, it just depends on who has the first move. The knights are those commanders on horses—they can move in irregular patterns and jump things in their way, but their moves must be very planned out, because they can hardly ever move normally. The bishops are not the direct battlers—call them the shadow queens. They move in straight lines with no room for diversion, but only diagonally, catching opponents by surprise. The queen is the strongest piece—she can do almost anything, eliminate everything, but she is vulnerable to attack, and must be positioned carefully, otherwise the enemy will get a hit in and take out the queen. The king is the most _important_ piece—lose him, and you lose everything. He is, however, always bound by political alliances and can hardly move freely—really, some of the biggest motion that ever takes place around him is when you castle him. The king in this game is of ultimate importance, but he is weak, he needs protection, which is why the game centres around him."

Touko beamed at Cheren. "Exactly. Sometimes, the steps leading up to checkmate can be as much of an ordeal as the rest of the game. Each move has to be carefully planned to ensure no room for escape, just like when you corner an actual king."

N scratched his head. "Can I try?"

"Sure!" Touko agreed. "Here, I'll teach you."

N caught on quickly, and they were so involved with each other that neither of them noticed Cheren leaving the room.

After a laughing fit which involved Touko falling on top of N and several chess pieces falling onto the ground, both of them forgot about chess and laced their fingers together, Touko shivering a bit as N brushed a kiss on her forehead, pulling her close.

* * *

Kris had finished peeking on all the girls. Her plans had gone somewhat awry, as usual. Mentally groaning, she resolved to visit Solidad and Harley on meddling tips. Then, she crashed into Drew, who was obviously in a bad mood (A.N. I wonder why…? -_-) and got the glare of her life. As she said later to Brendan: _God, if looks could kill…_

* * *

Fifteenth chapter of The Acquaintances. And please help me out with the Harmony question if you know anything about it….*stresses* And the song that Misty and Ash sang was a small excerpt of Vanilla Twilight by Owl City, which I do not own.

Quick question: Should the people go to Orre and Oblivia and all those other places? Or just the five regions? Because this is going to be a verrrry long story already, so….yeah. Meep.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Acquaintances**

OK. First of all, I'm sorry for not updating as often as I would like to, but hopefully that'll change. Hopefully. So, I have a few things to announce.

So, I got a review in the last chapter with a bunch of suggestions that I think should be given a shot. The suggestions are:

1. To put dates in the story so I can keep track of how much time has passed and stuff.

2. To skip over some cities/towns. In that case, the characters will just reflect on the city/town and the interesting things they did there.

3. To include the guys' POVs, because they outnumber the girls.

Why did I do that, you ask? Well, the first one, the dates, isn't a drastic change, so that can be implemented right away, but the other suggestions are kind of big, so I wanted to just put them up and ask the people who read this to comment and say whether they would like to have those changes put into place or not. If the majority of reviews for this chapter says yes, then those changes will be used, and if everybody's like "_NOOO THOSE ARE HORRIBLE CHANGES_" then they won't be used, obviously. So please comment! ^^

Disclaimer: *This is a recorded message taken at a time when Star-chan wasn't so annoyed at having to put up disclaimers so often*: _I don't own Pokemon, the characters, the fandoms—wait. Wait, did this machine just cut me off? Ahem. He-llo? Anybody home? Well, I don't own anything. Bye! Not—sure if you heard that. O-OK. I'm gonna go eat lunch now. Bye?!_

* * *

Dawn blinked sleepily. She was tangled up in the sheets on her bunk, still in her clothes from yesterday. Around her, the other girls were stirring. Dawn frowned. How'd she end up here? The last thing she remembered was falling asleep in—in…

_Oh damn what?_

Dawn was shaken out of her mental panicking by the laughter of the other girls.

"You should've seen your face!" May cackled, pointing an accusing finger at Dawn.

"It was—gasp—hilarious!" Touko said, cracking up in a most unprincesslike fashion.

"When you realised that—that—oh my _God_, Dawn!" Lyra flopped back down on her bunk, arms swinging wildly as she gasped for air.

Misty buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking, too breathless to even tease.

Dawn grabbed the nearest pillows and plushies and chucked them at the other girls. "Lay off! How'd I even end up here anyway?"

May wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Well, my day yesterday with Kerry was rather uneventful, unlike some others, I seem to have heard—cough cough—alright, Dawn, I'll talk! So, I came back here in the afternoon, having practically exhausted the life out of the library, and not long after, who knocks on the door but Paul! And guess what? He's carrying you bridal style! And you're sleeping and all curled up and snuggling into him and it's soooooo _cute_! And then he asks me which one is your bunk and I point to it and he goes over and puts you on it and—get this—he even covers you with a blanket! I swear he was blushing. I swear it!"

(A.N. How do you like my attempts to transform May into an Ikarishipping fangirl! Alright, I'll stop now. XP)

Dawn stared at May blankly, fighting the blush that was creeping onto her face. And yet, the only thing she said was:

"Did I really sleep the entire day?"

Every single living organism in their room automatically facepalmed.

Dawn went to take a shower, changing into a cropped white T-shirt with a gray cat's face featured prominently on it and low-waisted denim shorts, pulling on a pair of flip-flops to match. At the sink, she combed her hair until it hung sleekly down her back with long bangs in the front pinned back with two black bobby pins, sliding on her circlet and charm bracelet with the amethyst earrings as well.

May rushed through her shower, hurried by Misty's impatient calls for her to hurry up, and changed into a strapless dark blue minidress with a stiff, pleated skirt, jewelled fishnet tights, and black heels. Tying her hair up into an extraordinarily high ponytail, May put on her circlet and a pair of gold hoop earrings, leaving her neck and shoulders bare while she streaked on metallic, royal blue eyeshadow.

While Misty showered, Touko took advantage of the space at the sink to comb her hair into two ponytails, brown hair spinning down in wild curls, and put on her circlet and red lipliner, dressed in a scarlet rhinestone crewneck with sleeves that ended just below the elbows and a plush black skirt that ended at mid-thigh with heeled lace-up black ankle boots, before yielding the sink to Misty.

Misty slipped on a form-fitting, long sleeved short black dress with thin, horizontal white stripes and knee-length black socks with two cute white buttons at the sides near the top, black oxfords and a pretty silver necklace. After brushing her teeth, Misty blow-dried her wet hair and pulled it up into her usual spiky side ponytail, grabbing her circlet and putting it on.

Lyra was last in line to shower, and decided to get her revenge by taking an extra long time at the sink. She chose a simple white cotton shirt with a low, rounded neckline and dark-wash skinny jeans, a navy blazer and a bracelet made out of tiny pearls. Dumping her favourite pair of black Ray-Ban sunglasses in her bag, Lyra put on a pair of comfortable sneakers and brushed her teeth at the sink before putting on bold red lipstick and pearl earrings, tying her hair in a low ponytail. Lyra pretended to fuss over her perfume for a while, being apparently indecisive over false eyelashes or black mascara before finally choosing the mascara, oblivious to the complaints of the other girls.

"Finally," May groaned as Lyra exited the bathroom. "Let's hurry up and get breakfast. We still have to get to Verdanturf, remember."

* * *

Over breakfast, Touko suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Dawn, what date is it?"

Dawn looked up from her salad. "July 22nd, I think. Why?"

Touko did a quick calculation in her head. "So that means…this is the sixteenth day since our Acquaintance began. Twenty-two minus sixteen is six, so we started on July 6th. Wow, time sure flies."

May giggled. "Well, you know what they say: Time flies when you're having fun—or, in this case, flirting with cute green-haired guys by the name of N."

Touko turned the colour of her shirt, swatting May with a napkin. "Shut up. Don't forget about _your_ green-haired guy. Drew, anyone?"

May returned the swat. "Shut up, you. No turning my teasing against me."

* * *

In Verdanturf Town, they were greeted by the sight of the contest hall looming above the other, rather modest houses in the town.

Lyra's eyes lit up. "Hey, do you think there's a contest here? I'd _love_ to watch it!"

Misty shook her head. "I don't think so, Ly. This place would be a lot more crowded if there was."

There wasn't much to do in Verdanturf Town whenever the contests weren't taking place, so everybody piled on top of a tall hill, breathing the fresh air and looking at the town below.

Dawn sighed. "It's so pretty. A nice change from the big cities."

"You got that right," May agreed, lying down on the soft grass, hands spread out, feeling the sun shine on her face.

Misty, sprawled on the ground, kicked off her socks and oxfords and made a noise of agreement, absentmindedly playing with a stray blade of grass

Lyra tore off her blazer and threw it into the air. The wind caught it and held for a brief second, the sun gleaming off the cloth, before the blazer drifted back down to the grass. Laughing, she tied it around her waist tightly, before collapsing back down, sunglasses firmly put on.

Touko spun around, the rhinestones on her shirt catching the sunlight and refracting it back in glittery sparkles. Gripping her earbuds tightly, Touko plugged herself into her music, humming along absentmindedly.

But soon enough, they all became bored. Well, the guys, anyway. Namely, Barry and Ethan.

Barry had run up and down the hill enough times to have worn a path into it, and now he flopped down beside Paul, who bluntly told him to move. Grumbling, Barry sat beside Ethan instead, and together they plotted, whispering in quiet voices which the other people either didn't hear or ignored.

And nobody noticed when they left.

Or when they came back lugging five buckets of ice water.

They did notice, however, when they grabbed the buckets and dumped them on the five girls, effectively both soaking and freezing them.

What they did not take into consideration was how mad girls can get when you soak them without their consent.

Misty whipped her head around, teal eyes darkened considerably. Beside her, Touko carefully dried her earbuds and iPod, before putting them away and, slipping her drenched hair out of its ponytails, joined Misty in the glare force. May turned around slowly, an all-too-familiar murderous glint in her eye. Lyra smiled a venomously sweet smile, wet hair swinging as her mascara ran down in black streaks under her eyes, only adding to the terror factor. Dawn, like Lyra, was wearing a white shirt. White shirt plus water equals transparent shirt. On a girl? Equals _very_ angry girl.

_Attention: There has been a nuclear explosion in the town of Verdanturf, in the Kingdom of Hoenn, where the Acquaintance of the Princess Royale, the Golden Princess, the Radiant Princess, the Sovereign Princess, and the Princess Angelique was taking place. None of the princesses were harmed, though two of the young men, by the names of Barry Misfeld of Sinnoh and Ethan Firbank of Johto were severely injured and rushed to ER immediately. The town has been evacuated, and further updates will be made as more news arrives. Thank you. This is Rhonda of Sinnoh Now. A pleasure._

* * *

Misty brushed off her hands. "There. _That's _dealt with." She wrung out her hair, dripping water onto the grass while inwardly being glad she took off her oxfords and socks, which were lying dry a little ways away.

May patted herself on her back. "Yeah. Now, we should change into some new clothes. Bloodstains aren't exactly attractive," she said, blue eyeshadow streaking down her temple and cheekbones.

Lyra swept her index fingers under her eyelids, gathering her wayward mascara streaks upwards to look like thickly applied eye makeup and blotted away her ruined red lipstick. "Anybody got a compact mirror?" Lyra asked.

Touko traced a nail over the edges of her lips, trying to get the red lipliner away. No makeup was better than wet makeup. She picked up her earbuds and iPod, which were, thankfully, not ruined, and plugged herself into her music again, taking off her shoes.

Dawn crossed her arms over her torso, trying to hide the transparent parts that weren't partially covered by the cat face. Her bangs, slippery from water, had escaped from her bobby pins, and Dawn gave up trying to pin them up again, letting her hair loose.

The guys were staring, shell-shocked, at the bruised, cut, scuffed, broken, sprained, scratched, ruined, barely alive, severely injured lumps that used to be Barry and Ethan. And then moving their gazes back up, they saw the girls busy wringing out their hair, fixing their makeup, and in the cases of Lyra and Dawn, covering their transparent shirts, while acting like nothing had happened. And then back down at the lumps, one of which was groaning, the other shuddering. And then up again.

_Mental note: We will never, ever, ever, make the girls mad. Like, ever._

* * *

Ha! I made a Tay Tay reference there! *I knit sweaters, yo!*

So, please comment on those suggestions in the AN at the beginning of the chapter. OK. Bye!


End file.
